intendant

[in-ten-duhnt]

noun

1. a person who has the direction or management of some public business, the affairs of an establishment, etc.; a superintendent.

2. the title of various government officials, especially administrators serving under the French, Spanish, or Portuguese monarchies.

intendant

/ ɪnˈtɛndənt /

noun

1. history a provincial or colonial official of France, Spain, or Portugal

2. a senior administrator in some countries, esp in Latin America

3. a superintendent or manager

Word History and Origins

Origin of intendant¹

1645–55; < French < Latin intendent- (stem of intendēns ) present participle of intendere to stetch, make an effort (for), attend (to). See intend, -ant

Example Sentences

“When Susanne and I got the job as intendants, we asked ourselves, ‘Where can we really improve?’

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“We had a sold-out house, so the intendant of the theater called me that morning at 9 a.m. to ask me to play,” recalled the head of the theater’s music staff, Valeria Polunina.

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Unlike past intendants, however, Mr. Schulz will not stage operas for the company, which has just moved back to its historic home following a seven-year renovation.

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For a long time, he was a nearly homeless intendant, forced to focus his energies on programming in the neo-Baroque Laeiszhalle.

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But the experience of how cold and insensitive the building operators, lawyers, and super intendant were, left a harsh feeling in all of us at such a difficult time.

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