Administrator

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ədˈmɪnɪstɹeɪtə/

Definitions

1. A person responsible for managing and overseeing the operations of an organization, system, or estate
2. An individual who organizes, supervises, and controls the functions of an institution, framework, or property
3. A professional tasked with the management, coordination, and direction of activities within an organization, system, or estate

Etymology: The Latin "administrātor" was built from "ad", meaning "to" or "near", and "ministrāre", "to serve or attend", which itself came from "minister", a servant. Its literal sense was something like "one who attends to" a matter or a person, a helper rather than a boss. Over time the word took on the idea of directing affairs, and a person who attends to someone else's business became one who runs it. English borrowed the word directly from Latin. Its earliest uses were in the sense of someone who manages property or carries out the wishes of another, such as the person charged with handling a dead man's estate, a role that still survives in legal usage. The modern sense of a manager of an organization grew out of that idea of handling other people's affairs. The word also has a close relative in Spanish, "administrador", which came from the same Latin source by a separate route. Such pairs, where one word enters a language by inheritance and another by borrowing, are called doublets.

Synonyms: manager, supervisor, director, executive, agent

Antonyms: subordinate, employee