official

Etymology

From Old French official, from Latin officium (“duty, service”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈfɪʃəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪʃəl

Adjective

official (comparative more official, superlative most official)

1. Of or pertaining to an office or public trust.

   official duties

2. Derived from the proper office or officer, or from the proper authority; made or communicated by virtue of authority

   an official statement or report

3. Approved by authority; authorized.
4. sanctioned by the pharmacopoeia; appointed to be used in medicine; officinal

   an official drug or preparation

5. Discharging an office or function.
   • Sir Thomas Browne

     the stomach and other parts official unto nutrition

6. Relating to an office; especially, to a subordinate executive officer or attendant.
7. Relating to an ecclesiastical judge appointed by a bishop, chapter, archdeacon, etc., with charge of the spiritual jurisdiction.
8. True, real, beyond doubt.

   Well, it's official: you lost your mind!

Noun

official (plural officials)

1. An office holder invested with powers and authorities.

   David Barnes was the official charged with the running of the sports club.

   • 2014 March 15, “Turn it off”, in The Economist, volume 410, number 8878:

     If the takeover is approved, Comcast would control 20 of the top 25 cable markets, […]. Antitrust officials will need to consider Comcast’s status as a monopsony (a buyer with disproportionate power), when it comes to negotiations with programmers, whose channels it pays to carry.

2. A person responsible for applying the rules of a game or sport in a competition.

   In most soccer games there are three officials: the referee and two linesmen.

Further reading

• official in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• official in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Alternative forms

• officiel

Noun

official m (oblique plural officiaus or officiax or officials, nominative singular officiaus or officiax or officials, nominative plural official)

1. court official
2. chamber pot

Adjective

official m (oblique and nominative feminine singular officiale)

1. official; certified or permitted by an authoritative source
   • 1377, Bernard de Gordon, Fleur de lis de medecine (a.k.a. lilium medicine), page 182 of this essay:

     tumeur c’est maladie officiale

Adjective

official (plural officiaes, comparable)

1. Obsolete spelling of oficial

Noun

official m, f (plural officiaes)

1. Obsolete spelling of oficial