official

[ uh-fish-uhl ]

noun

1. a person appointed or elected to an office or charged with certain duties.

adjective

1. of or relating to an office or position of duty, trust, or authority:

   official powers.

2. authorized or issued authoritatively:

   an official report.

3. holding office.
4. appointed or authorized to act in a designated capacity:

   an official representative.

5. (of an activity or event) intended for the notice of the public and performed or held on behalf of officials or of an organization; formal:

   the official opening of a store.

6. Pharmacology. noting drugs or drug preparations that are recognized by and that conform to the standards of the United States Pharmacopeia or the National Formulary.

Official

¹

/ əˈfɪʃəl /

adjective

1. of or relating to one of the two factions of the IRA and Sinn Féin, created by a split in 1969. The Official movement subsequently renounced terrorism and entered constitutional politics in the Irish Republic as the Workers' Party (now the Democratic Left)

noun

1. a member of the Official IRA and Sinn Féin

official

²

/ əˈfɪʃəl /

adjective

1. of or relating to an office, its administration, or its duration
2. sanctioned by, recognized by, or derived from authority

   an official statement

3. appointed by authority, esp for some special duty
4. having a formal ceremonial character

   an official dinner

noun

1. a person who holds a position in an organization, government department, etc, esp a subordinate position

Other Words From

• of·ficial·ly adverb
• nonof·ficial adjective
• nonof·ficial·ly adverb
• preof·ficial adjective
• preof·ficial·ly adverb
• pseudo·of·ficial adjective noun
• pseudo·of·ficial·ly adverb
• quasi-of·ficial adjective
• quasi-of·ficial·ly adverb
• subof·ficial noun adjective
• subof·ficial·ly adverb
• under·of·ficial adjective
• unof·ficial adjective
• unof·ficial·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of official¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Late Latin officiālis “of duty,” equivalent to Latin offici(um) “service, duty” + -ālis adjective suffix; office, -al ¹

Example Sentences

Biden also stressed the importance of Democrats winning back the Senate majority, the officials said.

From Washington Post

Troye also praised a number of the administration’s top health officials.

From Washington Post

Car camping and RVing might be the official vacation of the pandemic.

From Outside Online

In one significant example from a decade ago, a $20 million federal settlement with Massey Energy revealed that West Virginia officials were not even reviewing disclosures that Massey had filed reporting thousands of water pollution violations.

From ProPublica

Ostrowski, with the Defense Department, and officials from HHS spoke during a briefing Wednesday with reporters.

From Washington Post

Whatever the FBI says, the truthers will create alternative hypotheses that try to challenge the ‘official story.’

From The Daily Beast

There is a long history of official anti-clericalism in Mexico, but the atmosphere in Tierra Caliente goes far beyond that.

From The Daily Beast

Apart from the video, the Saraya Al-Khorasani group has made no official declaration that it is linked to Taghavi.

From The Daily Beast

She vowed to repay the money—no official word, however, on whether she ever did that.

From The Daily Beast

Boehner was unanimously selected by the conference as its official nominee for speaker in the coming Congress.

From The Daily Beast

On the third day after the declaration of his recall, Ripperda took his official leave, and presented his son in his new office.

From Project Gutenberg

I met him striding toward the building that seemed to be a clearing house for the official contingent.

From Project Gutenberg

He not only repudiates the name “Jahveh,” but tells the official agents of Jahvism that their god is his devil.

From Project Gutenberg

It was a time of day when Ki Pak was generally free from any official duty, and he was glad to devote a little time to his son.

From Project Gutenberg

The chief official of the court is called a chancellor, the others vice chancellors.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• administrator
• agent
• bureaucrat
• civil servant
• commissioner
• director
• executive
• leader
• manager
• minister
• officer
• representative
• secretary