administrative
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of administrative
From the Latin word administrātīvus, dating back to 1725–35. See administrate, -ive
Explanation
If your job is administrative, you're pretty much limited to paperwork, check-writing, or maybe hiring and firing. Administrative means having to do with overseeing the "office-y" things. An artist doesn't have time for administrative details; they're too busy creating. A successful artist will hire a manager to handle the administrative aspects of his career, such as contacting galleries, setting up shows, and making sure they get paid for their work. People who handle administrative duties are often called bureaucrats, which is typically not a nice name to be called. Sometimes they're called "administrators." Teachers are there to teach; principals have to handle the administrative duties of running a school.
Vocabulary lists containing administrative
Obama's 2013 State of the Union
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Sincerely Sicily
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State and Local Governments, Sections 1–4
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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.
They argued the materials were protected by the Privacy Act, and that the justice department was violating the Administrative Procedure Act, which sets out the legal guidelines for how the government operates.
From BBC • May 27, 2026
Administrative and other expenses more than doubled on a review of its 2030 strategy and settlements of legal cases.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo spoke briefly and confirmed his support for designating the CAO as the city’s chief financial officer, without impacting the controller’s office.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2026
There’s also a First Amendment claim, and an Administrative Procedure Act claim, which is that the government is acting illegally in an arbitrary and capricious way.
From Salon • Jan. 28, 2026
I mean, you can’t spend your days in the Main Administrative Office and then hope to scare someone with a story about a headless ghost.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
