missionary
pronunciation
How to pronounce missionary in British English:
UK [ˈmɪʃənri]
How to pronounce missionary in American English:
US [ˈmɪʃəneri]
-
- Noun:
- someone who attempts to convert others to a particular doctrine or program
- someone sent on a mission--especially a religious or charitable mission to a foreign country
Word Origin
- missionary (n.)
- 1650s, from missionary (adj.). Missionary position attested by 1963, said to have been coined by Kinsey (1948), who identified its origin in work done by Polish anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski in Melanesia in the 1920s; allegedly from the term used by South Pacific peoples to describe what Christian missionaries promoted to replace their local variations. By late 1960s it became the general term for this type of sex, formerly also known as the English-American position.
- missionary (adj.)
- "sent on a mission," 1640s, from Modern Latin missionarius "pertaining to a mission," from Latin missionem (see mission).
Example
- 1. He decided he wanted to be some sort of missionary .
- 2. One might imagine a culture where mysticism and ritual encourage subjugating entire planets in a missionary conquest of the galaxy .
- 3. Geil was a baptist missionary , but his curiosity prompted exploration far beyond the scope of his christian duties .
- 4. A missionary couple brought him to warburton , where he was struck by the stark desert landscape .
- 5. She says she would like to be a missionary when she is older , perhaps in bolivia .