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# missionary

«missionary» in Mova's school dictionary: **a person sent by a church or religion to another place to…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a missionary, missionaries); adjective (missionary)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (church) A missionary is a person sent by a church or religion to another place to spread their faith, and often to run schools, hospitals or help people in need. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/missionary/#m1)

2) Missionary describes this work: missionary work, a missionary school. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/missionary/#m2)

3) (figurative) With missionary zeal means with very strong, eager belief in an idea. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/missionary/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In history and religious education lessons missionaries such as St Patrick, St Augustine of Canterbury, David Livingstone and many others travelled to share Christianity. Lessons note that missionaries built schools and hospitals, and that some missionary work was linked with empire and hurt local cultures. Phrases: «missionary work», «a missionary to», «missionary zeal».

### examples

- St Patrick was a missionary in Ireland. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/missionary/#x1)
- David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary and explorer in Africa. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/missionary/#x2)
- Her aunt does missionary work at a hospital in Uganda. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/missionary/#x3)
- The missionaries started a school in the village. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/missionary/#x4)
- Christians believe Jesus sent his followers out as missionaries. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/missionary/#x5)
- He talked about recycling with missionary zeal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/missionary/#x6)
- The sisters were savages who had never seen a missionary. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/missionary/#x7)

### note

Plural «missionaries». Related: «mission» (a task or a church base). Missionaries exist in several religions, though the word is most often about Christians. Describe history fairly: good and harmful effects were both real.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «missionary» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/missionary/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.