administer

English

Alternative forms

• administre (obsolete)

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English admynistren, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French aminister, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin administrare (“to manage, execute”), from ad (“to”) + ministrare (“to attend, serve”), from minister (“servant”); see minister.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ədˈmɪnɪstɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

administer (third-person singular simple present administers, present participle administering, simple past and past participle administered)

1. (transitive) To cause to ingest (a drug), either by openly offering or through deceit.

   We administered the medicine to our dog by mixing it in his food.

   • (Can we date this quote by Macaulay and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     A noxious drug had been administered to him.

2. (transitive) To apportion out.
   • (Can we date this quote by Spectator and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     A fountain […] administers to the pleasure as well as the plenty of the place.

   • (Can we date this quote by Macaulay and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Justice was administered with an exactness and purity not before known.

   • (Can we date this quote by Philips and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     [Let zephyrs] administer their tepid, genial airs.

3. (transitive) To manage or supervise the conduct, performance or execution of; to govern or regulate the parameters for the conduct, performance or execution of; to work in an administrative capacity.
   • (Can we date this quote by Alexander Pope and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     For forms of government let fools contest: / Whate'er is best administered is best.

4. (intransitive) To minister (to).

   administering to the sick

5. (law) To settle, as the estate of one who dies without a will, or whose will fails of an executor.
6. To tender, as an oath.
   • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Swear […] to keep the oath that we administer.

7. (medicine) To give a drug to a patient, be it orally or by any other means.

Related terms

• administration
• administrative
• administrator

Translations

to cause to take by openly offering or through deceit

• Bulgarian: предписвам (bg) (predpisvam)
• Catalan: administrar (ca)
• Czech: podat (cs)
• Dutch: toedienen (nl)
• Finnish: annostella, antaa (fi)
• French: administrer (fr)
• Galician: administrar (gl)
• German: darreichen, verabreichen (de)
• Hungarian: bead (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingue:
• Polish: podać (pl) pf, podawać (pl) impf, zadać (pl) pf, zadawać (pl) impf, zaaplikować pf, aplikować (pl) impf
• Portuguese: ministrar (pt), administrar (pt), aplicar (pt)
• Romanian: administra (ro)
• Russian: пропи́сывать (ru) impf (propísyvatʹ), прописа́ть (ru) pf (propisátʹ) (prescribe), назнача́ть (ru) impf (naznačátʹ), назна́чить (ru) pf (naznáčitʹ)
• Rusyn: справовати impf (spravovaty)
• Spanish: administrar (es)
• Welsh: gweinyddu (cy)

to work in an administrative capacity; to supervise

• Bulgarian: ръководя (bg) (rǎkovodja), управлявам (bg) (upravljavam)
• Catalan: administrar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 管理 (zh) (guǎnlǐ)

• Czech: spravovat (cs)
• Esperanto: administri (eo)
• Finnish: hallita (fi), johtaa (fi), hallinnoida
• French: administrer (fr), gérer (fr)
• Galician: administrar (gl)
• German: verwalten (de), administrieren
• Greek: διοικώ (el) (dioikó)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: adminisztrál (hu)
• Ido: administrar (io)
• Interlingue:
• Italian: amministrare (it)
• Japanese: 管理する (ja) (kanri suru)
• Maori: minita
• Polish: zarządzać (pl) impf
• Portuguese: administrar (pt)
• Romanian: administra (ro)
• Russian: управля́ть (ru) impf (upravljátʹ), руководи́ть (ru) impf (rukovodítʹ)
• Spanish: administrar (es)
• Swedish: administrera (sv)
• Welsh: goruchwylio (cy), gweinyddu (cy)

to minister to the sick

• Catalan: administrar (ca)
• Finnish: palvella (fi), hoitaa (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: administrer (fr)

Further reading

• “administer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “administer”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• administre, mistrained, nitramides

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ad.miˈnis.ter/, [äd̪mɪˈnɪs̠t̪ɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ad.miˈnis.ter/, [äd̪miˈnist̪er]

Noun

administer m (genitive administrī); second declension

1. assistant, helper, supporter
2. attendant
3. priest, minister

Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	administer	administrī
Genitive	administrī	administrōrum
Dative	administrō	administrīs
Accusative	administrum	administrōs
Ablative	administrō	administrīs
Vocative	administer	administrī

References

• “administer”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “administer”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• administer in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.