Officiate
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A person appointed to office, an official. rare
- 1 To perform the functions of some office. intransitive, transitive
"She officiated as registrar at the wedding."
- 2 perform duties attached to a particular office or place or function wordnet
- 3 To serve as umpire or referee. intransitive, transitive
"This is the second time he has officiated at a cup-final."
- 4 act in an official capacity in a ceremony or religious ritual, such as a wedding wordnet
Example
More examples"Oleg started to officiate the wedding."
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin officiātus, perfect participle of Late Latin officior (“to perform a function”) and of Medieval Latin officiō (“to officiate, say mass (9th cent.); to serve a church (13th cent.); to serve (early 13th c., 14th in British sources); to discharge an office (14th c.)”), from Latin officium (“official duty, service”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). The noun is derived from Medieval Latin officiātus (“monk in charge of a monastic office, official (start of 12th c., 14th in British sources)”), substantivized from the participle, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).
Related phrases
More for "officiate"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.