OFFICIAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does official mean? 

• OFFICIAL (noun)
  The noun OFFICIAL has 2 senses:

1. a worker who holds or is invested with an office

2. someone who administers the rules of a game or sport

  Familiarity information: OFFICIAL used as a noun is rare.

• OFFICIAL (adjective)
  The adjective OFFICIAL has 5 senses:

1. having official authority or sanction

2. of or relating to an office

3. verified officially

4. conforming to set usage, procedure, or discipline

5. (of a church) given official status as a national or state institution

  Familiarity information: OFFICIAL used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OFFICIAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A worker who holds or is invested with an office

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

functionary; official

Hypernyms ("official" is a kind of...):

skilled worker; skilled workman; trained worker (a worker who has acquired special skills)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "official"):

proconsul (an official in a modern colony who has considerable administrative power)

judge; jurist; justice (a public official authorized to decide questions brought before a court of justice)

postmaster general (the official in charge of the national postal service)

provincial ((Roman Catholic Church) an official in charge of an ecclesiastical province acting under the superior general of a religious order)

agent; federal agent (any agent or representative of a federal agency or bureau)

officeholder; officer (someone who is appointed or elected to an office and who holds a position of trust)

noticer (someone who gives formal notice)

notary; notary public (someone legally empowered to witness signatures and certify a document's validity and to take depositions)

mandarin (any high government official or bureaucrat)

mace; macebearer; macer (an official who carries a mace of office)

licenser (an official who can issue a license or give authoritative permission (especially one who licenses publications))

weigher (an official who weighs and records the weight)

prosecuting attorney; prosecuting officer; prosecutor; public prosecutor (a government official who conducts criminal prosecutions on behalf of the state)

quaestor (any of several public officials of ancient Rome (usually in charge of finance and administration))

recruiter (an official who enlists personnel for military service)

record-keeper; recorder; registrar (someone responsible for keeping records)

regulator (an official responsible for control and supervision of a particular activity or area of public interest)

returning officer (the official in each electorate who holds the election and returns the results)

sealer (an official who affixes a seal to a document)

searcher (a customs official whose job is to search baggage or goods or vehicles for contraband or dutiable items)

teller; vote counter (an official appointed to count the votes (especially in legislative assembly))

town clerk (the official who keeps a town's records)

doorkeeper; usher (an official stationed at the entrance of a courtroom or legislative chamber)

vizier (a high official in a Muslim government (especially in the Ottoman Empire))

commissar; political commissar (an official of the Communist Party who was assigned to teach party principles to a military unit)

apparatchik (a humorous but derogatory term for an official of a large organization (especially a political organization))

appointee (an official who is appointed)

bailiff (an officer of the court who is employed to execute writs and processes and make arrests etc.)

beadle (a minor parish official who serves a ceremonial function)

administrative official; bureaucrat (an official of a bureaucracy)

caretaker (an official who performs the duties of an office temporarily)

censor (a person who is authorized to read publications or correspondence or to watch theatrical performances and suppress in whole or in part anything considered obscene or politically unacceptable)

census taker; enumerator (someone who collects census data by visiting individual homes)

church officer (a church official)

city father (an important municipal official)

civil servant (a public official who is a member of the civil service)

invalidator; nullifier; voider (an official who can invalidate or nullify)

Comptroller General (a United States federal official who supervises expenditures and settles claims against the government)

Comptroller of the Currency (a United States federal official who regulates the national banks)

diplomat; diplomatist (an official engaged in international negotiations)

elected official (official who won the office in a free election)

equerry (an official charged with the care of the horses of princes or nobles)

fire marshall (an official who is responsible for the prevention and investigation of fires)

fire warden; forest fire fighter; ranger (an official who is responsible for managing and protecting an area of forest)

hearing examiner; hearing officer (an official appointed by a government agency to conduct an investigation or administrative hearing so that the agency can exercise its statutory powers)

hangover; holdover (an official who remains in office after his term)

incumbent; officeholder (the official who holds an office)

Inquisitor (an official of the ecclesiastical court of the Inquisition)

Derivation:

officialdom (people elected or appointed to administer a government)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who administers the rules of a game or sport

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

the golfer asked for an official who could give him a ruling

Hypernyms ("official" is a kind of...):

adjudicator (a person who studies and settles conflicts and disputes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "official"):

linesman (official (in tennis, soccer, football, etc.) who assists the referee in some way (especially by watching for out of bounds or offside))

ref; referee ((sports) the chief official (as in boxing or American football) who is expected to ensure fair play)

scorekeeper; scorer (an official who records the score during the progress of a game)

dispatcher; starter (the official who signals the beginning of a race or competition)

timekeeper; timer ((sports) an official who keeps track of the time elapsed)

ump; umpire (an official at a baseball game)

football official (an official who enforces the rules at a football game)

• OFFICIAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having official authority or sanction

Context example:

an official representative

Similar:

authorised; authoritative; authorized (sanctioned by established authority)

ex officio (by virtue of an office or position)

formal (characteristic of or befitting a person in authority)

formalised; formalized (given formal standing or endorsement; made official or legitimate by the observance of proper procedures)

semiofficial (having some official authority or sanction)

Also:

authorised; authorized (endowed with authority)

Antonym:

unofficial (not having official authority or sanction)

Derivation:

office ((of a government or government official) holding an office means being in power)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or relating to an office

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

official privileges

Pertainym:

office (an administrative unit of government)

Derivation:

office (an administrative unit of government)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Verified officially

Context example:

the election returns are now official

Similar:

confirmed (having been established or made firm or received the rite of confirmation)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Conforming to set usage, procedure, or discipline

Synonyms:

official; prescribed

Context example:

in prescribed order

Similar:

regular (in accordance with fixed order or procedure or principle)

Derivation:

office (a religious rite or service prescribed by ecclesiastical authorities)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(of a church) given official status as a national or state institution

Similar:

constituted; established (brought about or set up or accepted; especially long established)

Domain category:

church; church service (a service conducted in a house of worship)

 Context examples 

The official police don’t need you, Mr. Holmes, to tell them that the carpet must have been turned round.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Official or legal permission to do or own a specified thing.

(License, NCI Thesaurus)

“’Pon my word, I am inclined to agree with Master Alec,” said the official.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Official process of peer review for federal grants

(Grant Review Process, NCI Thesaurus)

The date (and time) the study subject gives official consent by signing the official consent form.

(Performed Study Subject Milestone Informed Consent Date, NCI Thesaurus)

Your chart suggests you will seal the commitment with paperwork to make things official, and if you do, wait two days until March 11.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

A date of an official approbation, recognition, or acceptance as satisfactory.

(Approval Date, NCI Thesaurus)

Labels such as "natural" and "hypoallergenic" have no official meaning.

(Cosmetics, Food and Drug Administration)

This is not an official program of a Public Health Department.

(Community Health Nursing, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

If a person chooses to take part in the treatment, procedure, trial, or testing, he or she signs the form to give official consent.

(Consent form, NCI Dictionary)