English dictionary

office Meaning & Definition

Q: What is the plural of office?

The plural of office is offices.

Q: What is the past tense of office?

The past tense of office is officed. The present participle is officing.

/ˈɒfɪs/

What Does Office Mean?

Office is a noun that means A ceremonial duty or service, particularly: The authorized form of ceremonial worship of a church. Any special liturgy, as the Office for the Dead or of the Virgin. A daily service without the eucharist. The daily service of the breviary, the liturgy for each canonical hour, including psalms, collects, and lessons. It can also mean The authorized form of ceremonial worship of a church. As a verb, it means To provide (someone) with an office.

Word Facts for Office

Part of speech	noun, verb
Pronunciation	//ˈɒfɪs//
Syllables	1
Synonyms	power, authority and position
Plural	offices
Verb forms	offices, officing, officed

Office Definition (Noun)

A ceremonial duty or service, particularly: The authorized form of ceremonial worship of a church. Any special liturgy, as the Office for the Dead or of the Virgin. A daily service without the eucharist. The daily service of the breviary, the liturgy for each canonical hour, including psalms, collects, and lessons.
In the Latin rite, all bishops, priests, and transitional deacons are obliged to recite the Divine Office daily.
The authorized form of ceremonial worship of a church.
Any special liturgy, as the Office for the Dead or of the Virgin.
A daily service without the eucharist.
The daily service of the breviary, the liturgy for each canonical hour, including psalms, collects, and lessons.
In the Latin rite, all bishops, priests, and transitional deacons are obliged to recite the Divine Office daily.
Various prayers used with modification as a morning or evening service.
Last rites.
Mass, the introit sung at its beginning.
A position of responsibility.
When the office of Secretary of State is vacant, its duties fall upon an official within the department.
Official position, particularly high employment within government; tenure in such a position.
She held office as secretary of state until she left to run for local office instead.
A duty, particularly owing to one's position or station; a charge, trust, or role; moral duty.
Function: anything typically done by or expected of something.
A service, a kindness.
The secretary prevailed at the negotiations through the good offices of the Freedonian ambassador.
Inside information.
A room, set of rooms, or building used for non-manual work, particularly:
The office of the Secretary of State is cleaned when it is vacant.
A room, set of rooms, or building used for administration and bookkeeping.
A room, set of rooms, or building used for selling services or tickets to the public.
A room, set of rooms, or building used for consultation and diagnosis, but not surgery or other major procedures.
The staff of such places.
The whole office was there... well, except you, of course.
The administrative departments housed in such places, particularly:
He's from our public relations office.
A ministry or other department of government.
The secretary of state's British colleague heads the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Short for Holy Office: the court of final appeal in cases of heresy.
A particular place of business of a larger white-collar business.
He worked as the receptionist at the Akron office.
The parts of a house or estate devoted to manual work and storage, as the kitchen, scullery, laundry, stables, etc., particularly a house or estate's facilities for urination and defecation: outhouses or lavatories.
Clipping of inquest of office:
A piece of land used for hunting; the area of land overseen by a gamekeeper.
A hangout: a place where one is normally found.
A plane's cockpit, particularly an observer's cockpit.
A collection of business software typically including a word processor and spreadsheet and slideshow programs.
(The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
An official or group of officials; a personification of officeholders.
A bodily function, urination and defecation; an act of urination or defecation.
The performance of a duty; an instance of performing a duty.

Office as a Verb

To provide (someone) with an office.
To have an office.

Noun

A ceremonial duty or service, particularly:
(now usually in plural) A service, a kindness.
(in large organizations) The administrative departments housed in such places, particularly:
He's from our public relations office.
(now in the plural) The parts of a house or estate devoted to manual work and storage, as the kitchen, scullery, laundry, stables, etc., particularly a house or estate's facilities for urination and defecation: outhouses or lavatories.
Clipping of inquest of office: an inquest undertaken on occasions when the Crown claimed the right of possession to land or property.

Antonyms of Office

No antonyms or near antonyms are listed by the available sources for this entry.

Office in a Sentence

In the Latin rite, all bishops, priests, and transitional deacons are obliged to recite the Divine Office daily.

When the office of Secretary of State is vacant, its duties fall upon an official within the department.

Do not conflate the officeholder with the office; the distinction sometimes matters.

She held office as secretary of state until she left to run for local office instead.

The secretary prevailed at the negotiations through the good offices of the Freedonian ambassador.

The office of the Secretary of State is cleaned when it is vacant.

The whole office was there... well, except you, of course.

He's from our public relations office.

The secretary of state's British colleague heads the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

He worked as the receptionist at the Akron office.

(The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

She held office as secretary of state until she left office to run for office.

Word Forms & Grammar

office (plural offices)

office (third-person singular simple present offices, present participle officing, simple past and past participle officed)

Words That Rhyme With Office

tophus interofficeoff us

Origin of Office

Origin 1: 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”),[1] from opifex (“doer of work, craftsman”) + -ium (“-y”, forming actions),[2] from op- (“work”) + -i- (connective) + -fex (combining form of faciō (“to do, to make”)).[3]

Origin 2: In the religious sense, Displaced native Old English hād.

Origin 3: The computing sense is a genericization of various proprietary program suites, such as Microsoft Office.

Pronouncing Office

You say office as //ˈɒfɪs//. It has 1 syllable.

Frequently Asked Questions About Office

Is office a noun or a verb?

Office is mainly used as a noun, but it can also be used as a verb.

What is another word for office?

Close synonyms of office are power, authority and position. See the full list of office synonyms and antonyms.

What is the plural of office?

The plural of office is offices.

What is the past tense of office?

The past tense of office is officed. The present participle is officing.