From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishminstermin‧ster /ˈmɪnstə $ -ər/ noun [countable] British English RRCa large or important church a carol service at the minster York Minster
Examples from the Corpus
minster• Many old established monasteries acted as minsters, or the major churches serving particular estates.• It is dominated by its minster, the collegiate church of St Peter and St Paul.• A little distance away the spire of the old minster soared towards the clouds.• Many such minsters were on royal or major ancient ecclesiastical estates, often at the caputs of such estates.• This dependence is demonstrated in the subsidiary status of their churches, which were daughter churches to the minster.• It only left one problem, which minster is physically capable of carrying a struggling woman upstairs in a fireman's lift?• As well as major settlements with minsters, hamlets and farms may well have had their own small churches.• This difference between the two archbishops was illustrated over the memorial requiem in York minster for Lord Halifax.Origin minster Old English mynster, from Late Latin monasterium; → MONASTERY