administrator

administrator — noun

1. a senior employee paid to keep a company, school, hospital, or government office

1.nounC1
Definition

a senior employee paid to keep a company, school, hospital, or government office running smoothly — handling paperwork, staff, money, and day-to-day decisions.

Example

Kenji works as a hospital administrator and manages the staff schedules each week.

noun phrase: work as a [type] administrator

The school administrators met with parents to discuss the new lunch program.

plural form: school administrators

Common collocations
  • hospital administrator
  • school administrator
  • senior administrator
  • chief administrator
Synonyms
  • manager

    wider term; covers any level of supervision, while administrator stresses paperwork and policy

  • executive

    higher-level decision-maker; administrator can be senior or middle level

  • official

    stresses public-sector authority; administrator can be private or public

Usage Note

Often paired with a modifier that names the field (hospital, school, university, government, business). Distinguish from sense 2 (COMPUTING), where the person manages a computer system rather than people and paperwork.

Common Mistakes

She is administrator of the clinic.
She is the administrator of the clinic.
countable role nouns need an article.

2. a person who looks after a computer network, website, or shared system, with ful

2.nounB2
Definition

a person who looks after a computer network, website, or shared system, with full rights to add users, change settings, and fix problems.

Example

Only the system administrator can reset your password on the office network.

compound: system administrator

Xiomara sent the error log to the website administrator at midnight.

compound: website administrator

Common collocations
  • system administrator
  • network administrator
  • database administrator
  • website administrator
Synonyms
  • admin

    informal short form, common in tech and online chat

  • sysadmin

    narrower; specifically a system administrator for servers and networks

  • moderator

    manages user behaviour on a site, with fewer technical rights than an administrator

Antonyms
  • user

    ordinary account holder with limited rights

Usage Note

Almost always preceded by a noun naming the system (system, network, website, database, forum, server). Often shortened to 'admin' in informal speech and chat. Distinguish from sense 1 (MANAGER), which describes a job over people, not machines.

Common Mistakes

Ask the administrator computer to help you.
Ask the computer administrator to help you.
the system word goes before 'administrator'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All five words name someone who runs an organization, but the focus differs. An 'administrator' is the person who keeps the rules, money, and paperwork moving — strong in schools, hospitals, charities, and government offices. A 'manager' is broader and more everyday: anyone who supervises a team or task, from a shop floor to a project. An 'executive' sits higher up and makes strategy decisions, often with a fancy title like CEO or vice-president. An 'official' carries public-sector weight and a sense of authority granted by law. A 'director' usually leads one department or a small organization. Compare: 'She is the hospital administrator' (handles operations and policy), 'She is the floor manager' (supervises today's shift), 'She is a senior executive' (sets company direction).

administrator ↗manager ↗executive ↗official ↗director ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • hospital administrator
  • school administrator
  • system administrator
  • network administrator
  • database administrator
  • website administrator
  • chief administrator
  • senior administrator

Phrases

  • work as an administrator
  • appoint an administrator
  • contact the administrator

Prepositions

  • administrator of
  • administrator at
  • administrator for

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishModern English

The word came into English in the late 1300s from Latin 'administrator', meaning 'a person who manages or carries out duties on behalf of someone else'. It is built from the Latin verb 'administrare', formed from 'ad-' ('to') plus 'ministrare' ('to serve' or 'to attend to'), the same root that gives us 'minister'. Originally it described someone managing the affairs of an estate or carrying out the duties of an office. The computing sense (a person with full rights over a computer system) only appeared in the late twentieth century, as networks and shared systems spread.