preside

[pri-zahyd]

verb (used without object)

presided, presiding 

1. to occupy the place of authority or control, as in an assembly or meeting; act as president or chairperson.

2. to exercise management or control (usually followed byover ).

   The lawyer presided over the estate.

preside

/ prɪˈzaɪd /

verb

1. to sit in or hold a position of authority, as over a meeting

2. to exercise authority; control

3. to occupy a position as an instrumentalist

   he presided at the organ

Other Word Forms

• presider noun
• unpresiding adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of preside¹

1605–15; < Latin praesidēre to preside over, literally, sit in front of, equivalent to prae- pre- + -sidēre, combining form of sedēre to sit ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of preside¹

C17: via French from Latin praesidēre to superintend, from prae before + sedēre to sit

Example Sentences

Xi Jinping, presiding over the world’s second-largest economy, has shown the opposite: that prosperity alone cannot satisfy what St. Augustine called humanity’s “restless heart.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Under the highly unusual arrangement, COP31 would take place in Turkey but who would preside over the meeting -- Australia or Turkey -- was still being negotiated, the sources said.

Read more on Barron's

St. Thomas Episcopal Church, where Reverend Eder presided, was on Main Street in the center of town.

Read more on Literature

The defendants "took advantage of the great vulnerability to profit from passages in dangerous conditions", said the presiding judge on Tuesday.

Read more on Barron's

“It is a kangaroo tribunal, presided over by an unelected government, whose purpose is to deliver a preordained guilty verdict and to discredit a political opponent,” she said.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• administer 
• chair 
• govern 
• officiate 
• ordain 
• oversee 
• supervise