Magisterial

adj

adj ·5 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Befitting the status or skill of a magister or master; authoritative, masterly.

    "The economist and demographer David Lam, in his magisterial 2011 presidential address to the Population Association of America, identified the keys to global prosperity in the face of record rates of population growth."

  2. 2
    Of or pertaining to a master, magistrate, the magisterium, or one in authority.

    "Instead a ‘magisterial’ Reformation was created: these were the Protestant movements led by the magistri, the theologically educated masters, and magistrates of all descriptions – kings, princes, city councils."

  3. 3
    Pertaining to, produced by, or of the nature of, magistery.
Adjective
  1. 1
    used of a person's appearance or behavior; befitting an eminent person wordnet
  2. 2
    offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power wordnet
  3. 3
    of or relating to a magistrate wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
high and mightyabsoluteabsolutistabsolutisticacceptedadept

Example

More examples

"The economist and demographer David Lam, in his magisterial 2011 presidential address to the Population Association of America, identified the keys to global prosperity in the face of record rates of population growth."

Etymology

From Late Latin magisterialis, from Latin magisterium.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.