minister without portfolio

noun,plural ministers without portfolios.

a minister of state who is not appointed to any specific department in a government.

Origin of minister without portfolio

First recorded in 1910–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

Yisrael Galili, a minister without portfolio, sought a “fitting response” to the U.N. in the settlement committee he chaired.
How Delegitimizing Israel Encourages Radicalism | Gil Troy | February 11, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
What does a minister without portfolio do when he comes to work?
Israel’s New Election Discourse | Don Futterman | January 8, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Dr. Murray approved the idea, and thought that the minister without portfolio might give up loafing and take to fishing.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, May 12, 1920 | Various
He was now "minister without portfolio" in the Schreiner Ministry.
Lord Milner's Work in South Africa | W. Basil Worsfold
Yet he only held office for six months—as minister without portfolio in the Scanlen ministry from May to November 1881.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 5 | Various

He then became what is known on the continent as a minister without portfolio.
The Government of England (Vol. I) | A. Lawrence Lowell

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