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administrate

American  
[ad-min-uh-strayt] / ædˈmɪn əˌstreɪt /

verb (used with object)

  • administrates,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • administrated,
    past participle,  past
  • administrating
    present participle
  1. to administer.


administrate British  
/ ədˈmɪnɪˌstreɪt /

verb

  1. to manage or direct (the affairs of a business, institution, etc)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Etymology

Origin of administrate

1630–40; < Latin administrātus, past participle of administrāre to administer; see -ate 1

Explanation

To administrate is to manage or run something. People who administrate are in charge. An administrator is someone in charge of something, like the president of a college. To administrate is to run something, the way a CEO runs a company. Administrating means making major decisions, hiring and firing people, and taking credit and blame for what a business or organization does. It can help you remember what this word means if you remember that the current members of the executive branch of the U.S. are called the administration.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing administrate

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

“They know very well they can’t administrate, in the sense that we can’t send money through them,” she said of the militants.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2021

The way to think of a magistrate is as the Romans meant it: one empowered to administrate.

From Fox News ● Aug. 6, 2020

“You cannot recruit, you cannot train, you cannot retain, and you cannot administrate, ” he said.

From New York Times ● May 12, 2016

ICM Registry was finally awarded the right to administrate the new domain.

From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2012

Servile, yet audacious senators! thus prospectively to administrate away the inalienable rights of posterity.

From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. I by Herman Melville

"It has been challenging for us," said Tys, director of a management consulting firm who in his spare time administrates at the school along with three others while a head teacher oversees academic matters.

From Reuters ● Apr. 4, 2022

As the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which administrates PISA, noted last year, the United States—with its fairly unique system of local control—shows “significant performance variability” between states.

From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2017

This year has already seen an unprecedented level of litigation related to the election and the procedures by which the election will be administrated.

From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2024

Orally administrated probiotics have therefore been widely used to alleviate symptoms.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 21, 2023

The working group meeting is being held in Srinagar, the summer capital of the federally administrated territory, from Monday to Wednesday.

From BBC ● May 22, 2023

By the third century BCE, this system was being administrated by a combination of public assemblies, elected officials, and the Senate.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

Pedro de Merida, canon of Palencia, administrated until the arrival of the archbishop.

From The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII. by Juan Antonio Llorente

It would take a bit of administrating, just to make sure the injury is absolutely genuine.

From BBC ● May 22, 2025

Fire authorities were administrating CPR to at least 50 people in the Itaewon district as of 11:30 p.m.

From Reuters ● Oct. 29, 2022

They say officials should instead take steps to expand the capacities for PCR tests, which are more accurate but require huge numbers of professionals administrating nasal and throat swabs and high-tech machines analyzing samples.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 27, 2022

A Rite-Aid in Pennsylvania didn’t even realize it was administrating the vaccine and turned legitimate appointments away.

From Slate ● Feb. 11, 2021

I was driven, while in Washington, to observe something amounting almost to a peculiarity in the Christian names of the gentlemen who were then administrating the government of the country.

From North America — Volume 2 by Anthony Trollope

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