- present tense form of headquarter (3rd person singular).
headquarters
Americannoun
-
headquarters
plural
-
a center of operations, as of the police or a business, from which orders are issued; the chief administrative office of an organization.
The operatives were always in touch with headquarters.
-
the offices or working location of a military commander; the place from which a commander customarily issues orders.
-
a military unit consisting of the commander, his staff, and other assistants.
plural noun
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any centre or building from which operations are directed, as in the military, the police, etc
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a military formation comprising the commander, his staff, and supporting echelons
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of headquarters
Explanation
The main office of an organization is its headquarters. The headquarters of your favorite video game company might be in New York. Companies, clubs, and religious groups all have headquarters, or a central administrative location. Militaries also have headquarters, although the word has a slightly different meaning in that context — military headquarters are where commanders and their staffs live and work. The word has been around since the 1600's, from the "most important or principal" meaning of head and quarters, originally "military dwelling place," and later "lodgings."
Vocabulary lists containing headquarters
Superhero Lexicon
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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.
The Leoben site, known as the Hinterberg plant, serves as the global headquarters and houses its research and development operations.
From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026
Walmart’s fashion push under Incandela began nearly a decade ago, when Walmart’s top executives gathered in a conference room inside their Bentonville, Ark., headquarters to hear from her.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
But the tech mogul still has a lot of property in California, the state that houses Meta’s main headquarters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
A judge blocked the Trump administration from relocating FBI headquarters to which federal office facility?
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
He found a desk and a phone with a direct line to the American military headquarters in Vietnam.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
