registrar

American  

[rej-uh-strahr, rej-uh-strahr] / ˈrɛdʒ əˌstrɑr, ˌrɛdʒ əˈstrɑr /

noun

1. a person who keeps a record; an official recorder.

2. an agent of a bank, trust company, or other corporation who is responsible for certifying and registering issues of securities.

3. an official at a school or college who maintains students' personal and academic records, issues reports of grades, mails out official publications, etc.

---

registrar British  

/ ˌrɛdʒɪˈstrɑː, ˈrɛdʒɪˌstrɑː /

noun

1. a person who keeps official records

2. an administrative official responsible for student records, enrolment procedure, etc, in a school, college, or university

3. a hospital doctor senior to a houseman but junior to a consultant, specializing in either medicine ( medical registrar ) or surgery ( surgical registrar )

4. the chief medical administrator of a large hospital

5. a person employed by a company to maintain a register of its security issues

---

Other Word Forms

• registrarship
  noun

Etymology

Origin of registrar

1350–1400; alteration ( see -ar ²) of earlier registrary < Medieval Latin registrārius ( register, -ary ); replacing earlier registrer, Middle English registrer < Anglo-French ( Old French registreur ) < Medieval Latin registrātor, equivalent to registrā ( re ) to register + -tor -tor

Explanation

A registrar is the head of a university's record-keeping department. It's the job of the registrar to keep track of class schedules and a record of students' grades. At a college or university, the registrar is the person who's responsible for keeping accurate records of classes, students, and grades. You might visit the registrar if your schedule needs to be changed, or when you want a copy of your transcript to send to a graduate school or for a fellowship application. Registrar comes from the Medieval Latin registrarius, "one who keeps a record,"

Example Sentences

Desmond withdrew from that race and filed to run in Issa’s district on Thursday, according to the San Diego County registrar of voters.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026

After getting the data, the county’s voter registrar, Celia Israel, said in an interview that she felt even more uncomfortable about moving forward with sending notices to voters, given SAVE’s errors.

From Salon • Feb. 27, 2026

The domain registrar and web hosting company posted mixed results for the fourth quarter and issued a soft outlook.

From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026

On Jan. 31, Corning filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization against the registrar of the domain name corningresearch.com.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 22, 2025

The registrar, when presented with Mrs. Richardson’s credentials and told she was verifying some facts for a story, proved to be extremely helpful.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng