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Synonyms

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:

In order to set this up quickly, then-Conservative government ministers accepted an offer from Palantir to build a system to administrate the scheme, based on its Foundry platform, for free for six months.

From BBC ● May 14, 2026

Thao first placed Armstrong on paid administrate leave in January to review investigations by the department’s federal monitor that found the police chief responsible for gross dereliction of duty in the sergeant’s misconduct cases.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 23, 2023

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

"Does the president of the Bold Bucks pretend to administrate a court of honor?" he sneered heavily.

From The Lion's Skin by Rafael Sabatini

"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

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

However, the pace of booster doses administrated has been slow.

From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2023

At this moment, Gentle Annie re-entered with the eau de vie; and Tresco, who was bustling importantly about his patient, administrated the restorative dexterously to the unconscious digger, and then awaited results.

From The Tale of Timber Town by Alfred A. (Alfred Augustus) Grace

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

From BBC ● May 22, 2025

Instead, Oz will take over one of the most sprawling bureaucracies within HHS, administrating Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

From Slate ● Nov. 23, 2024

These sites are going to get it wrong sometimes, given they’re administrating millions or billions of users saying millions or billions of nonsensical things every day.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2022

Some people are seen administrating CPR to injured people on the pavement while others shout for help above blaring dance music.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 30, 2022

Above all, they met with singular success in administrating to the disorders of the mind, so intolerable in solitude, and under the infirmities of a weakened frame.

From Paul and Virginia by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre

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