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Department vs Ministry - What's the difference?

department | ministry |

Ministry is a synonym of department.



As nouns the difference between department and ministry

is that department is a part, portion, or subdivision while ministry is government department, at the administrative level normally headed by a minister (or equivalent rank, e.g. secretary of state), who holds it as portfolio, especially in a constitutional monarchy, but also as a polity.

department

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A part, portion, or subdivision.
  • A distinct course of life, action, study, or the like.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2014
    • , date=November 14 , author=Stephen Halliday , title=Scotland 1-0 Republic of Ireland: Maloney the hero , work=The Scotsman citation , page= , passage=Flair and invention were very much at a premium, suffocated by the relentless pace and often fractious nature of proceedings. The absence of James Morrison from the centre of Scotland’s midfield, the West Brom man ruled out on the morning of the game by illness, had already diminished the creative capacity of the home side in that department .}}
  • * (and other bibliographic particulars), (Thomas Babington Macaulay)
  • A subdivision of an organization.
  • # One of the principal divisions of executive government
  • the Treasury Department'''''; ''the '''Department''' of Agriculture''; ''police '''department
  • # One of the divisions of instructions
  • the physics department'''''; ''the gender studies '''department
  • A territorial division; a district; especially, in France, one of the districts composed of several arrondissements into which the country is divided for governmental purposes.
  • * 2002 , , The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to the 1715-99 , Penguin 2003, p. 427:
    • The departments were the bricks from which the edifice of the nation was to be constructed.
  • (label) A military subdivision of a country; as, the Department of the Potomac.
  • (label) Act of departing; departure.
  • * (and other bibliographic particulars), Wotton
    • sudden 'departments from one extreme to another

    Synonyms

    * (distinct course) province, specialty * (division of executive government) ministry

    Derived terms

    * departmental * departmentally

    See also

    * province * state

    ministry

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia ministry) (ministries)
  • Government department, at the administrative level normally headed by a minister (or equivalent rank, e.g. secretary of state), who holds it as portfolio, especially in a constitutional monarchy, but also as a polity
    • She works for the ministry of finance.
  • The complete body of government ministers (whether or not they are in cabinet) under the leadership of a head of government (such as a prime minister)
    • ''The premier offered his last ministry' s resignation to the monarch, and is asked the form a new one in accordance with the election results
  • A ministration
  • The active practice and education of the minister of a particular religion or faith.
  • (Christianity)
    • the present ministry of the Holy Spirit

    Derived terms

    * bus ministry * ministerial