official definition

English official definition

Etymology

From Middle English official, from Old French official, from Latin officiālis, from Latin officium (“duty, service”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈfɪʃəl/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪʃəl

Adjective

official (comparative more official, superlative most official)

1. Of or pertaining to an office or public trust.

   official duties

2. Derived from the proper office or officer, or from the proper authority; made or communicated by virtue of authority

   an official statement or report

3. Approved by authority; authorized.

   The Official Strategy Guide

   1. (Of a statement) Dubious but recognized by authorities as truth and/or canon.

      Despite these testimonies, "accidental asphyxiation" remains his official cause of death.

4. (pharmaceutical) Sanctioned by the pharmacopoeia; appointed to be used in medicine; officinal.

   an official drug or preparation

5. Discharging an office or function.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:

     the stomach and other parts official unto nutrition

6. Relating to an office; especially, to a subordinate executive officer or attendant.
7. Relating to an ecclesiastical judge appointed by a bishop, chapter, archdeacon, etc., with charge of the spiritual jurisdiction.
8. (informal) True, real, beyond doubt.

   Well, it's official: you lost your mind!

9. (pharmacology) Listed in a national pharmacopeia.

Antonyms

• unofficial

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

official (plural officials)

1. An office holder, a person holding an official position in government, sports, or other organization.

   Officials in the Firefly administration assure the Sylvanians they don't want war either.

   In most soccer games, there are three officials: the referee and two linesmen.

   The company's officials became nabobs as it took on more and more power after Plassey.

   • 1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. III:

     ...officials with their prehensile bottoms...

   • 2014 March 15, “Turn it off”, in The Economist, volume 410, number 8878:

     If the takeover is approved, Comcast would control 20 of the top 25 cable markets […] Antitrust officials will need to consider Comcast’s status as a monopsony (a buyer with disproportionate power), when it comes to negotiations with programmers, whose channels it pays to carry.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:official

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• “official”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “official”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Middle English official definition

Alternative forms

• officiale, offycyal, offyciall, officiall, offecialle

Etymology

From Old French official, from Latin officiālis; equivalent to office +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔfisiˈaːl/, /ɔˈfisial/

Noun

official (plural officials)

1. An underling of a member of the clergy, often heading a clerical court.
2. A hireling or subordinate; one employed to serve, especially at an estate.

Descendants

• English: official
• Scots: offeecial

References

• “officiāl, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-20.

Adjective

official (plural and weak singular officiale)

1. (of body parts) Functional; serving a purpose.
2. (rare) Requisite or mandatory for a task.

Descendants

• English: official
• Scots: offeecial

References

• “officiāl, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-20.

Old French official definition

Alternative forms

• officiel

Noun

official m (oblique plural officiaus or officiax or officials, nominative singular officiaus or officiax or officials, nominative plural official)

1. court official
2. chamber pot

Adjective

official m (oblique and nominative feminine singular officiale)

1. official; certified or permitted by an authoritative source
   • 1377, Bernard de Gordon, Fleur de lis de medecine (a.k.a. lilium medicine), page 182 of this essay:

     tumeur c’est maladie officiale

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• → Middle English: official, officiale, offycyal, offyciall, officiall, offecialle
  • English: official
  • Scots: offeecial
• French: officiel

Portuguese official definition

Adjective

official m or f (plural officiaes)

1. Obsolete spelling of oficial

Noun

official m or f by sense (plural officiaes)

1. Obsolete spelling of oficial