administrative

administrative — adjective

1. describing the everyday paperwork, scheduling, and routine decisions that keep a

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

describing the everyday paperwork, scheduling, and routine decisions that keep a workplace, school, or charity running day to day.

Example

Xiomara spent her morning on administrative tasks like filing forms and booking meeting rooms.

administrative + tasks: paperwork-and-scheduling collocation

The hospital hired three new staff to handle administrative work in the front office.

administrative work: general office duties

Common collocations
  • administrative tasks
  • administrative duties
  • administrative role
  • administrative burden
  • administrative costs
  • administrative assistant
  • day-to-day administrative work
Synonyms
  • managerial

    focuses on supervising people; 'administrative' focuses on paperwork and procedures

  • clerical

    narrower — basic office tasks like filing or typing, not decision-making

  • organizational

    broader — about how a group is structured, not just daily running

Antonyms
  • operational

    the front-line work itself (teaching, treating patients) rather than the office support behind it

Grammar Patterns

administrative + noun

Usage Note

Almost always used before a noun (administrative tasks / role / costs / burden). Subject is rarely a person; the word describes the work itself, not the worker — for that, use 'administrative staff' or 'administrator'.

Common Mistakes

My job is administrative the team's schedule.
My job is to administer the team's schedule.
use the verb 'administer' for actions; 'administrative' only modifies a noun.
She is administrative at the company.
She does administrative work at the company.
the adjective needs a noun like work, role, or duties after it.

2. describing the way a country or area is divided up into smaller official units —

2.adjectiveC1
Definition

describing the way a country or area is divided up into smaller official units — counties, provinces, districts — so that local government can run each one.

Example

Taiwan is split into twenty-two administrative divisions, each led by a local mayor or magistrate.

administrative divisions: government-area collocation

The town hall in Lyon serves as the administrative centre for the surrounding region.

administrative centre: capital-of-an-area pattern

Common collocations
  • administrative region
  • administrative district
  • administrative division
  • administrative area
  • administrative capital
  • administrative boundary
Synonyms
  • governmental

    broader — anything done by government, not specifically about how land is divided

  • municipal

    narrower — only at city or town level

Grammar Patterns

administrative + region/division/capital

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1: here the noun describes a place or geographical unit (region, district, capital, boundary), not office paperwork. Common collocations include administrative region, division, district, area, capital.

Common Mistakes

Our office is in an administrative.
Our office is in an administrative district.
sense 2 always needs a place noun (district, region, area) after it.

3. describing the rules and court procedures that decide how government offices, ag

3.adjectiveC1
Definition

describing the rules and court procedures that decide how government offices, agencies, and local councils must treat ordinary citizens.

Example

Mr. Lin filed an administrative appeal after the city refused his building permit.

administrative appeal: challenging a government decision

Students in the law clinic study administrative law every Tuesday afternoon.

administrative law: rules controlling government bodies

Common collocations
  • administrative law
  • administrative court
  • administrative appeal
  • administrative procedure
  • administrative ruling
Synonyms
  • regulatory

    about written rules, especially for businesses; 'administrative' covers the broader citizen-government relationship

Antonyms
  • criminal

    criminal law punishes wrongdoers; administrative law settles disputes between citizens and the state

  • civil

    civil law settles disputes between two private parties, not citizen against government

Grammar Patterns

administrative + law/court/procedure

Usage Note

Formal, legal register. Distinguish from sense 1: here the noun is almost always 'law', 'court', 'appeal', or 'procedure', and the topic is citizens' rights against government bodies — not office paperwork.

Common Mistakes

She studies administrative for her degree.
She studies administrative law for her degree.
the field is named 'administrative law'; the adjective alone is incomplete.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four describe office work, but each has a different focus. 'Administrative' covers the paperwork, scheduling, and routine decisions that keep an organization running — booking rooms, processing forms, handling expenses. 'Managerial' is narrower and higher-status: it concerns supervising people and making strategic choices ('a managerial role' suggests authority over staff). 'Clerical' is narrower and lower-status: it refers to basic office tasks like typing, filing, or answering phones, with little decision-making involved. 'Organizational' is broader still, describing how a group is structured overall ('organizational change' means restructuring teams). For example: an administrative assistant arranges meetings; a managerial assistant might help a manager run the team; a clerical assistant mainly files documents.

administrative ↗managerial ↗clerical ↗organizational ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • administrative tasks
  • administrative duties
  • administrative work
  • administrative role
  • administrative staff
  • administrative assistant
  • administrative costs
  • administrative burden
  • administrative law
  • administrative region
  • administrative district
  • administrative procedure

Adverbs

  • purely administrative
  • primarily administrative
  • largely administrative

Phrases

  • day-to-day administrative work
  • administrative and clerical duties
  • purely administrative role

Prepositions

  • administrative for [department]

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishModern English

The adjective comes from the Latin verb 'administrare', meaning to manage or assist in something — built from 'ad-' (toward) plus 'ministrare' (to serve or attend to). It entered English through French in the 15th century, first describing the activity of running affairs, and only later being widened to cover the people, offices, and laws involved in that running. The modern legal sense ('administrative law') appeared in the 19th century when courts began separating disputes against the state from ordinary civil cases.