office Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun place of business where professional or clerical duties are performed
    business office.
    • he rented an office in the new building
  2. noun an administrative unit of government
    agency; authority; bureau; federal agency; government agency.
    • the Central Intelligence Agency
    • the Census Bureau
    • Office of Management and Budget
    • Tennessee Valley Authority
  3. noun the actions and activities assigned to or required or expected of a person or group
    function; part; role.
    • the function of a teacher
    • the government must do its part
    • play its role
  4. noun (of a government or government official) holding an office means being in power
    power.
    • being in office already gives a candidate a great advantage
    • during his first year in office
    • during his first year in power
    • the power of the president
  5. noun professional or clerical workers in an office
    office staff.
    • the whole office was late the morning of the blizzard
  6. noun a religious rite or service prescribed by ecclesiastical authorities
    • the offices of the mass
  7. noun a job in an organization
    berth; billet; spot; place; situation; position; post.
    • he occupied a post in the treasury

WordNet

Of"fice noun
Etymology
F., fr. L. officium, for opificium; ops ability, wealth, holp + facere to do or make. See Opulent, Fact.
Definitions
  1. That which a person does, either voluntarily or by appointment, for, or with reference to, others; customary duty, or a duty that arises from the relations of man to man; as, kind offices, pious offices.
    I would I could do a good office between you. Shak.
  2. A special duty, trust, charge, or position, conferred by authority and for a public purpose; a position of trust or authority; as, an executive or judical office; a municipal office.
  3. A charge or trust, of a sacred nature, conferred by God himself; as, the office of a priest under the old dispensation, and that of the apostles in the new.
    Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office. Rom. xi. 13.
  4. That which is performed, intended, or assigned to be done, by a particular thing, or that which anything is fitted to perform; a function; -- answering to duty in intelligent beings.
    They [the eyes] resign their office and their light. Shak.
    Hesperus, whose office is to bring Twilight upon the earth. Milton.
    In this experiment the several intervals of the teeth of the comb do the office of so many prisms. Sir I. Newton.
  5. The place where a particular kind of business or service for others is transacted; a house or apartment in which public officers and others transact business; as, the register's office; a lawyer's office.
  6. The company or corporation, or persons collectively, whose place of business is in an office; as, I have notified the office.
  7. pl. The apartments or outhouses in which the domestics discharge the duties attached to the service of a house, as kitchens, pantries, stables, etc. Eng.
    As for the offices, let them stand at distance. Bacon.
  8. (Eccl.) Any service other than that of ordination and the Mass; any prescribed religious service.
    This morning was read in the church, after the office was done, the declaration setting forth the late conspiracy against the king's person. Evelyn.
Of`fice transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To perform, as the duties of an office; to discharge. Obs. Shak.

Webster 1913