WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Ad*min`is*tra"tion
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [OE. administracioun, L. administratio: cf. F. administration.]
Definition : 1. The act of administering; government of public affairs; the service rendered, or duties assumed, in conducting affairs; the conducting of any office or employment; direction; management. His financial administration was of a piece with his military administration. Macaulay.

2. The executive part of government; the persons collectively who are intrusted with the execution of laws and the superintendence of public affairs; the chief magistrate and his cabinet or council; or the council, or ministry, alone, as in Great Britain. A mild and popular administration. Macaulay. The administration has been opposed in parliament. Johnson.

3. The act of administering, or tendering something to another; dispensation; as, the administration of a medicine, of an oath, of justice, or of the sacrament.

4. (Law) (a) The management and disposal, under legal authority, of the estate of an intestate, or of a testator having no competent executor. (b) The management of an estate of a deceased person by an executor, the strictly corresponding term execution not being in use. Administration with the will annexed, administration granted where the testator has appointed no executor, or where his appointment of an executor for any cause has failed, as by death, incompetency, refusal to act, etc.

Syn. -- Conduct; management; direction; regulation; execution; dispensation; distribution.


Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913