Presiding

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Exercising leadership and control in a formal setting
2. Having the role of guiding and directing the proceedings of a formal gathering
3. Serving as the official authority who oversees and conducts a meeting or ceremony

Etymology: "Presiding" is the present participle of "preside", and the verb's core idea is literally physical: to sit in front. The Latin "praesidēre" combined "prae", meaning "before", with "sedēre", "to sit", and it could describe a guard or commander posted in a position of watch. Over time that sense of sitting at the front of a group turned into the sense of being in charge of it. The word reached English through Old French "presider", which carried the Latin meaning into the language. English already had a native verb that could have covered the same ground: Old English "foresittan", which may have been a calque, or word-for-word copy, of the Latin. The French loan won out, and "foresittan" disappeared.

Synonyms: leading, overseeing, conducting, chairing, governing