English Explanatory Dictionary

office

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A ceremonial duty or service, particularly
  2. A ceremonial duty or service
  3. The authorized form of ceremonial worship of a church.
  4. Any special liturgy, as the Office for the Dead or of the Virgin.
  5. A daily service without the eucharist.
  6. The daily service of the breviary, the liturgy for each canonical hour, including psalms, collects, and lessons.
  7. Various prayers used with modification as a morning or evening service.
  8. Last rites.
  9. Mass, (particularly) the introit sung at its beginning.
  10. A position of responsibility.
  11. Official position, particularly high employment within government; tenure in such a position.
  12. A duty, particularly owing to one's position or station; a charge, trust, or role; (obsolete, rare) moral duty.
verb
  1. To provide (someone) with an office.
  2. To have an office.

Pronunciation

/ˈɒf.ɪs/ /ˈɔf.ɪs/ en-au-office.ogg /ˈɔ.fɪs/ /ˈɑ-/ en-us-office.ogg

Word forms

office offices officing officed

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”)). The computing sense is a genericization of various proprietary program suites, such as Microsoft Office.

Synonyms

service divine service religious service liturgy doctor's office office Divine Office breviary Liturgy of the Hours canonical hours department ministry bureau workplace workstead practice bathroom

Related words

officeholder officer official officiate dignity position rank station status tenure

Derived words

610 Office back office booking office box office box-office box-office bomb branch office chain of office circumlocution office cloffice coach-office coffice color of office corner office dead letter office divine office do a land-office business doctor's office drawing office express office family office find an office fire office fiscal office front office garden office general office gingerbread office gingerbread-office give the office good offices great office of state Gretzky's office head office high office hoffice hold office Holy Office home office house of office ill offices in office in-office imaging inquest of office insurance office intelligence office interoffice intraoffice jack-in-office kind offices last offices leave office left-luggage office little office man of office Met Office middle office nonoffice oath of office office automation

Translations

Bulgarian: слу́жба Bulgarian: обря́д Bulgarian: о́фис Bulgarian: канто́ра Bulgarian: бюро́ Bulgarian: канцела́рия Catalan: ofici Catalan: oficina Dutch: dienst Dutch: bureau Dutch: kantoor French: office French: bureau German: Dienst German: Amt German: Büro German: Kontor Ancient Greek: ἱερουργία Indonesian: ofisi Indonesian: kantor Indonesian: biro Italian: ufficio Italian: uffizio Kazakh: діни жора Kazakh: кеңсе Kazakh: құжатхана Kazakh: бюро Korean: 의식 Korean: 예배 Korean: 례배 Korean: 사무소 Korean: 사무실 Korean: 오피스 Latvian: dievkalpojums Latvian: ceremonija Latvian: kantoris Latvian: birojs Latvian: ofiss Middle English: office Plautdietsch: Deenst Polish: oficjum Polish: biuro Portuguese: ofício Portuguese: escritório Russian: слу́жба Russian: обря́д Russian: о́фис Russian: конто́ра Russian: бюро́ Russian: канцеля́рия Russian: кабине́т Spanish: oficio Spanish: oficina Spanish: sede Spanish: despacho Tagalog: opisyo Tagalog: tanggapan Tagalog: opisina Albanian: zyrë Arabic: مَكْتَب Arabic: قَلَم Arabic: مكتب Armenian: բյուրո Armenian: գրասենյակ Armenian: կոնտորա Armenian: օֆիս Azerbaijani: ofis Azerbaijani: büro Azerbaijani: dəftərxana Baluchi: دپتر Basque: bulego Belarusian: о́фіс Belarusian: канто́ра Belarusian: бюро́ Belarusian: канцэля́рыя Belarusian: канцыля́рыя Belizean Creole: aafis Bengali: দপ্তর Bengali: অফিস Burmese: ရုံး Burmese: ဗျူရို Burmese: ရုံးခန်း Chichewa: ofesi Chinese Cantonese: 寫字樓 /写字楼 Chinese Cantonese: 辦公室 /办公室 Chinese Cantonese: 事務所 /事务所 Chinese: 辦公室 /办公室 Chinese: 事務所 /事务所 Chinese Mandarin: 辦公室 /办公室 Chinese Mandarin: 事務所 /事务所 Ngazidja Comorian: biro Cornish: sòdhva Czech: kancelář Danish: kontor Danish: bureau Central Dusun: upis Elfdalian: kanntor Esperanto: oficejo Esperanto: administrejo Esperanto: kontoro Estonian: kontor Estonian: büroo Estonian: kabinet
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