office
//ˈɒf.ɪs//
Forms
- Plural
- offices
- present (v1)
- office
- past (v2)
- officed
- past participle (v3)
- officed
- present participle
- officing
- 3rd person singular
- offices
Definitions
1.A ceremonial duty or service, particularly
- Tom came to my office yesterday.
2.A ceremonial duty or service
- The office, or Introite, (as they call it).
- In the Latin rite, all bishops, priests, and transitional deacons are obliged to recite the Divine Office daily.
- His spirituall exercises were chiefly Prayer, the H. Sacrifice of Masse, his Canonicall Houres or diuine Office.
3.A position of responsibility.
- Do not conflate the officeholder with the office; the distinction sometimes matters.
- When the office of Secretary of State is vacant, its duties fall upon an official within the department.
- I do solemnly swear... that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
4.Official position, particularly high employment within government; tenure in such a position.
- The Tories had been in office ten years.
- She held office as secretary of state until she left office to run for office.
1.To provide (someone) with an office.
- Is he officed in Congressional Relations or is he officed in SCA?
- Prior to that time, Station personnel were first officed in temporary wartime barracks on the campus and then on the second floor of the Journalism Building.
2.To have an office.
- "I believed that Dave was just doing a favor for his brother," said Somerville, who added that he assumed Lou and Dave officed together.
Frequency
Overall
Very common· #380
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Common
- General reading & writing
- Very common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Uncommon
Related words
Etymology
From Middle English office, from Old French office, from Latin officium (“personal, official, or moral duty; official position; function; ceremony, esp. last rites”), contracted from opificium (“construction: the act of building or the thing built”), from opifex (“doer of work, craftsman”) + -ium (“-y”, forming actions), from op- (“work”) + -i- (connective) + -fex (combining form of faciō (“to do, to make”)).