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.
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 Matthew Szabo is working on a separate Climate Action and Adaptation Plan meant to align with a state requirement that local governments maintain climate adaptation and resiliency strategies in their general plans.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026
Immigration advocates challenge ICE’s policy governing these arrests, arguing, among other things, that it was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act.
From Slate • Mar. 27, 2026
Pressley has introduced the Ending Administrative Wage Garnishment Act, which would “protect borrowers by ending garnishment as a tool writ large for student debt collection by the federal government, regardless of who’s in office.”
From Salon • Mar. 17, 2026
The day before Doug Swieteck came back, our principal reported during Morning Announcements that Mrs. Sidman had accepted “voluntary reassignment to the Main Administrative Office.”
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.
