prefecture
Americannoun
-
prefectures
plural
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:
The Paris police prefecture said the latest demonstration had not been approved and police "carried out checks" and "put a security arrangement in place" to be able to "intervene quickly if needed."
From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2026
BOJ policy board member Junko Koeda will address business leaders in the southern prefecture of Kumamoto on Thursday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The US currently has about 55,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, with the heaviest concentration based on the tropical island prefecture.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
More than 17,000 athletes and officials, a bigger number than the Olympics, descended on Nagoya and Aichi prefecture for the continent's premier sporting spectacular.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
But the residents of Fukushima prefecture would be on the move for years to come.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
Japan has 826 game factories nationwide, but only a handful in northern prefectures hit hardest by attacks.
From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 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
Another 16,000 residents in the Niigata and Yamagata prefectures north of Ishikawa were also told to evacuate, the AFP news agency said.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2024
Three prefectures along the northeastern coast of the island—Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima—were closest to the fault and took the hardest hit.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
