English Lexicon

Official

/əˈfɪʃ.əl/
adjectivenounCEFR B2 (Upper)Top #450 frequency
Full Thesaurus

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As adjective
  1. 1

    Relating to an authority or public body and its public duties, or sanctioned by proper authority.

    "The government released an official statement regarding the new economic policy."
As noun
  1. 1

    A person holding public office or having official duties in an organization.

    "Several senior government officials attended the diplomatic summit."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from Middle English, originating from Old French 'official', which traces back to the Latin 'officialis' (pertaining to a duty or office). The root 'officium' combines 'opus' (work) and 'facere' (to do), shifting historically from referring to someone holding a public position to denoting anything authorized by proper authority.

Quick Vocabulary Retention Check

Which of the following is the closest synonym for "Official"?

Thesaurus & Synonyms Graph

Explore Nuanced Synonyms for "Official"

Discover exact matches, context-specific alternatives, and antonyms with intensity ratings in the VocabDictionary Thesaurus.

View "Official" Synonym Map