Preside

//pɹɪˈzaɪd// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To act as president or chairperson. intransitive
  2. 2
    act as president wordnet
  3. 3
    To exercise authority or control. intransitive

    "The firſt day of November was dedicated to the angel preſiding over fruits, ſeeds, &c. and was therefore named la mas ubhal, that is, the day of the apple fruit, and being pronounced lamasool, the English have corrupted the name to lambswool, a name they give to a compoſition made on this eve of roaſted apples, ſugar, and ale."

  4. 4
    To be a featured solo performer. intransitive

    "I’ll preside at the organ."

Synonyms

All synonyms
administeradminister justiceadministratebe mastercaptaincarry on

Example

More examples

"Article 6. The president shall preside at all meetings."

Etymology

From Old French presider, from Latin praesidēre (“preside”), from pre- (“before”) + sedere (“to sit”). Displaced Old English foresittan, which might have been a calque of the Latin.

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