prefecture
Americannoun
noun
-
the office, position, or area of authority of a prefect
-
the official residence of a prefect in France, Italy, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of prefecture
From the Latin word praefectūra, dating back to 1570–80. See prefect, -ure
Vocabulary lists containing prefecture
East Asia - Middle School
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East Asia - Introductory
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East Asia - High School
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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.
See Examples For:
Around 700 people left their homes as a precaution in Le Porge, where more than 3,000 campers were also relocated, the prefecture said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Just in Kastoria prefecture, forestry services received over 300 complaints from citizens reporting bears in residential areas between 2025 and last month.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
About 25 minutes after the Venezuela quake, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit off the east coast of Japan, about 20 miles from the town of Kuji in Iwate prefecture, where “strong” shaking was felt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
On Thursday, Naoki Tamura, one of the BOJ policy board’s most hawkish members, is scheduled to speak to business leaders in Japan’s western prefecture of Hyogo.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Her father, a strawberry farmer, had come from Japan, from people who had been pottery makers for as long as anyone in his prefecture could remember.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
In Miyagi, Akita, and Fukushima prefectures, the number of sightings in April was around four times that of the previous year, the Yomiuri daily reported.
From Barron's ● May 8, 2026
Officials urged residents in seven prefectures from Hokkaido in the north to Chiba in central Japan to stay on high alert for a potential megaquake.
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2025
Last month, Hong Kong Airlines suspended all flights to the southern Japanese prefectures of Kagoshima and Kumamoto, citing low demand.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2025
For example, out of 47 Japanese prefectures, Okinawa ranks first on body mass index, second on beer consumption, and fourth on suicide rate among people over the age of 65.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 20, 2024
On the Sanriku Coast, which extends through Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, the shoreline zigzags in and out like the teeth of a saw.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
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.
