Preside

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /pɹɪˈzaɪd/

Definitions

1. To hold the position of authority and direct the proceedings of a meeting, gathering, or organization
2. To occupy a leading role in an official context while overseeing the conduct of discussions or activities within a group or institution
3. To hold a position of leadership that entails guiding and managing the actions and decisions during formal assemblies or organizations

Etymology: "Preside" is a word that literally means "to sit before." Its Latin ancestor, "praesidēre," combined "prae" ("before") with "sedēre" ("to sit"), so a presiding person was, at root, the one seated in front of a group. The Latin verb carried a sense of guarding or protecting as well as sitting in charge, and that idea of standing in front to watch over others is still present in the word's authority. The word reached English through Old French "presider," so it is a borrowing rather than a native formation. English had an earlier word for the same idea, Old English "foresittan," which was displaced by the French-derived form. "Foresittan" may itself have been a calque, a word-for-word translation, of the Latin, built on the same pattern of "fore" (before) plus "sit."

Synonyms: lead, chair, conduct

Antonyms: follow, submit