Prime Minister
522
3.2
- noun
:
primer ministro
- The Prime Minister announced new policies to improve education for all citizens.
- British Prime Minister
- former Prime Minister
- Israeli Prime Minister
And this is coming from the Prime Minister on down.
- And this is coming from the Prime Minister on down.
- He was a Prime Minister of a Middle Eastern country.
- It's not clear how much capacity the Prime Minister himself has to stop that.
- Being Prime Minister is an education in itself.
- And there was also talk about a former Prime Minister from Israel.
- He said he won't debate me unless Ehud Olmert, the former Prime Minister, is on.
- Well, I want to run for Prime Minister, if not Mayor of London for sure.
- And what could and should the new Prime Minister do differently?
- Yeah, I told him he could be Prime Minister.
- Does the US have no sway over Prime Minister Netanyahu?
- His tenure as Prime Minister is often dated to this point.
Examples
-
This is London, the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Winston Churchill.
-
The change is mainly in the timing, Prime Minister, as you see.
Fiction book (1993) -
If they do that, what kind of Prime Minister would be leading this country?
-
And this is coming from the Prime Minister on down.
-
It's not clear how much capacity the Prime Minister himself has to stop that.
-
You were at school with the Prime Minister.
-
How much tea do you drink, Prime Minister?
-
To be told by your own Prime Minister that you were wrong was bad enough.
Fiction book (1994) -
Dave stands face to face with the Japanese Prime Minister in a full diplomatic ceremony.
Fiction book (1993) -
We're back with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Synonyms
216
2.3
The head of a country's government who leads it and makes key decisions
78
5.5
A person who leads a country's government, for example a prime minister
1
4.6
The British Prime Minister, their home at 10 Downing Street, or the main attacking player in football
The head of a country's government, for example in the United Kingdom
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'head of the government' is directly derivable from combining 'prime' (foremost/first in rank) with 'minister' (a government official): a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes the foremost minister or leader of ministers. This compound pattern is common cross-linguistically (e.g. primer ministro, premier ministre) and follows transparent composition, so the expression is likely understandable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Prime Minister comes from two simple words: prime meaning 'first' and minister meaning 'servant' or 'helper'. So the image is of the 'first' helper to the king or queen who leads the other ministers, and that's why it means the head of the government today.