Mother Teresa

English

Etymology

Appellativisation of Mother Teresa, an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary.

Proper noun

Mother Teresa

1. A nun who worked among the poor for many decades in India.

Translations

nun

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 德蘭修女／德兰修女 (dak¹ laan⁴ sau¹ neoi^5-2)

  Mandarin: 德蘭修女／德兰修女 (Délán xiūnǚ)

• Finnish: äiti Teresa
• French: mère Teresa f
• German: Mutter Teresa f
• Japanese: マザー·テレサ (Mazā-Teresa)
• Portuguese: Madre Teresa f
• Russian: мать Тере́за f (matʹ Tɛrɛ́za)

See also

• Mother Teresa on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Noun

Mother Teresa (plural Mother Teresas)

1. A person who is completely unselfish to the point of being saintly.
   • 1979, Mary Jane Linn, Matthew Linn, Dennis Linn, Healing the Dying: Releasing People to Die, page 1:

     To the degree we have Jesus within us, we are all gifted to be a Mother Teresa.

   • 1998, Arnold B. Cheyney, People of Purpose: 80 People Who Have Made a Difference, page 149:

     Do you know someone who comes close to being a Mother Teresa?

   • 2008, Johnny Ong, Don't Live Your Live in One Day, page 28:

     I am not saying that we should all be a Mother Teresa.

   • 2009 December 2, Madeleine L. Van Hecke, Blind Spots: Why Smart People Do Dumb Things, Prometheus Books, →ISBN, page 91:

     Imagine a woman, Marcy, who sees herself as self-sacrificing, a veritable Mother Teresa who consistently puts the needs of others before her own.

   • 2016 May 6, Robert Sack, A Geographical Guide to the Real and the Good, Routledge, →ISBN, page 181:

     A Mother Teresa is not only offering her services, but also sacrificing her well-being and personal safety to help the needy.

   • 2011, Louis Faust, Ruma Bose, Mother Teresa, CEO: Unexpected Principles for Practical Leadership, page 18:

     As a leader you should ask yourself, “What are you a Mother Teresa of?”

   • 2013, Horatio M, Natasha Bennett, How to Be a Good Person - Without Being Religious:

     You do not have to be a Mother Teresa to care.

   • 2018 October 18, Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle, Advent with Our Lady of Fatima, Sophia Institute Press, →ISBN, page 182:

     We cannot all be Mother Teresas, but we are all, without a doubt, called to a life of holiness.

   • 2018, Time Magazine Editors, TIME Mother Teresa: The Life and Works of a Modern Saint:

     And yet Pope Francis could just as easily be called a Mother Teresa pope.

Further reading

• “Mother Teresa”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “Teresa”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “Mother Teresa”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.