official

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

• IPA^(key): /əˈfɪʃəl/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪʃəl

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.

   The Official Strategy Guide

   1. (Of a statement) Dubious but recognized by authorities as truth and/or canon.

      Despite these testimonies, "accidental asphyxiation" remains his official cause of death.

4. (pharmaceutical) 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!

• unofficial

• office
• officer
• officiate
• officiality

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.

   Last year, Yulong Snow Mountain park officials reported that 2.6 million visitors came to the mountain.

   • 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.

• See also Thesaurus:official

• fourth official

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

• officiale, offycyal, offyciall, officiall, offecialle

From Old French official, from Latin officiālis; equivalent to office +‎ -al.

• IPA^(key): /ɔfisiˈaːl/, /ɔˈfisial/

official (plural officials)

1. An underling of a member of the clergy, often heading a clerical court.
2. A hireling or subordinate; one employed to serve, especially at an estate.

• English: official
• Scots: offeecial

• “officiāl, n.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-20.

official (inflected form officiale)

1. (of body parts) Functional; serving a purpose.
2. (rare) Requisite or mandatory for a task.

• English: official
• Scots: offeecial

• “officiāl, adj.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-20.

• officiel

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

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

• → Middle English: official, officiale, offycyal, offyciall, officiall, offecialle
  • English: official
  • Scots: offeecial
• French: officiel

official (plural officiaes, comparable)

1. Obsolete spelling of oficial

official m, f (plural officiaes)

1. Obsolete spelling of oficial