office

office — noun

1. a room, or sometimes a whole building, where staff sit at desks and use computer

1.nounA2
Definition

a room, or sometimes a whole building, where staff sit at desks and use computers, phones, and printers to do paperwork or business tasks for a company.

Example

Maya shares a small office on the third floor with two other designers.

share + an office (room sense)

Marcus left the office at six o'clock and walked straight to the train station.

leave/arrive at the office

Common collocations
  • open-plan office
  • corner office
  • office desk
  • office hours
  • leave the office
Synonyms
  • workplace

    broader — any place of work, including factories or shops

  • workspace

    the personal area or desk inside a larger office

  • bureau

    more formal; often used for news or government offices

Grammar Patterns

the office

in/at the office

Usage Note

Often used with 'the' even when the speaker has not mentioned a specific office, because it is understood to mean the speaker's own workplace ('I'm at the office').

Common Mistakes

I work in office today.
I work in the office today.
countable noun; needs 'the' or 'an' when referring to a specific room or workplace.
She is in office now, please call later.
She is in the office now, please call later.
'in office' (no article) means holding a political position; for the room, use 'in the office'.

2. one branch or section of a larger business, often named after the city or region

2.nounB1
Definition

one branch or section of a larger business, often named after the city or region it serves and reporting to a central headquarters.

Example

The Taipei office handles every customer in East Asia and reports to London twice a month.

the [city] office

Our Berlin office has only twelve staff, but it brings in half of the company's profit.

Common collocations
  • head office
  • branch office
  • regional office
  • open an office
  • close an office
Synonyms
  • branch

    very close synonym, especially for banks and shops

  • bureau

    more common for news agencies and government bodies

  • headquarters

    the main controlling office, never a small one

Grammar Patterns

the [city] office

head/branch office

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1: this sense names a sub-unit of a company (Taipei office, head office), while sense 1 names a physical room you sit in. Common collocates are 'head', 'branch', 'regional', and city names.

Common Mistakes

She works for the New York office of room 305.
She works in room 305 of our New York office.
the unit (Sense 2) contains rooms (Sense 1), not the other way round.

3. the place in which a doctor, a dentist, or an animal doctor receives patients fo

3.nounB1
Definition

the place in which a doctor, a dentist, or an animal doctor receives patients for check-ups, advice, or treatment; British speakers usually call this a 'surgery' or 'practice'.

Example

Dr. Tanaka's office is open from nine to five and closed on Wednesdays.

[Dr. X]'s office

Carlos took his daughter to the dentist's office for a check-up last Monday.

the dentist's office

Common collocations
  • doctor's office
  • dentist's office
  • vet's office
  • call the office
  • office visit
Synonyms
  • clinic

    broader — a building with several doctors or services

  • surgery

    British equivalent for a doctor's office

  • practice

    the business itself, not just the rooms

Grammar Patterns

the doctor's/dentist's office

Usage Note

Mainly American English. British speakers normally say 'the doctor's surgery' or 'the GP's practice', and 'the dentist' (not 'the dentist's office') is enough on its own.

Common Mistakes

I have an appointment at the doctor office tomorrow.
I have an appointment at the doctor's office tomorrow.
needs the possessive 's.

4. an important job in a government, party, or large body, with the power and duty

4.nounC1
Definition

an important job in a government, party, or large body, with the power and duty that come with it — for example, the role of mayor, minister, or company president.

Example

Mayor Lin took office in January after winning a very close election.

take office (begin a role)

The president has held office for nearly two terms and will step down in May.

hold office (be in a role)

Common collocations
  • take office
  • hold office
  • leave office
  • run for office
  • high office
Synonyms
  • position

    general word for a job; less ceremonial than 'office'

  • post

    any official appointment, including non-elected jobs

  • tenure

    the period someone holds an office, not the office itself

Grammar Patterns

hold/take/leave office

in office

office of [title]

Usage Note

Use 'office' (no article) in the fixed phrases 'take/hold/leave office' and 'in office'. With 'the office of …' (the office of mayor), the article is required because it names a specific post.

Common Mistakes

He took the office last month.
He took office last month.
the fixed phrase has no article.
During his office, the economy grew.
During his time in office, the economy grew.
'office' here means the position, not a span of time; add 'time in'.

5. a named branch of national or city government that handles one area of public wo

5.nounB2
Definition

a named branch of national or city government that handles one area of public work, such as foreign affairs, taxes, or patents; often written with a capital letter as part of its title.

Example

The Foreign Office issued a travel warning for citizens flying to the region this summer.

the [Name] Office

Britain's Home Office decides who is allowed to enter the country and stay long-term.

Home Office (UK department)

Common collocations
  • the Foreign Office
  • the Home Office
  • the Patent Office
  • the Tax Office
  • Office of the Mayor
Synonyms
  • department

    general word for any government unit; American English prefers this

  • ministry

    common in many countries (but not the UK or US) for the same idea

  • agency

    often a smaller or more specialised body

Grammar Patterns

the [Name] Office

Office of [Topic]

Usage Note

Most often a Capitalised proper noun forming the name of a department (the Home Office, the Patent Office, the Tax Office). Distinguish from sense 4: this is the body itself; sense 4 is the personal post a single official holds.

Common Mistakes

Britain home office said no.
Britain's Home Office said no.
the proper-noun department needs capital letters and the possessive on the country name.
Idioms

through the good offices of

idiom

with the friendly help, support, or arrangement of a person or group, often someone using their position to help quietly behind the scenes.

Through the good offices of his uncle, Carlos found a summer job at the harbour.

The two leaders met through the good offices of a small neutral country.

through somebody’s good offices

idiom

With someone's help or assistance.

Mina got the job through her uncle's good offices.

Did you find the apartment through the agent's good offices?

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All five words name somewhere people earn their living, but they differ in scale and tone. 'Office' is the everyday word for a room or building of desks where people do business or paperwork. 'Workplace' is the broadest term and covers shops, factories, and farms as well as offices — useful when laws or studies must apply to every kind of job. 'Workspace' zooms in on the personal area someone occupies inside a larger office, such as a single desk or pod. 'Bureau' is more formal and is mostly used for news offices and certain government bodies (the FBI, a Paris bureau). 'Headquarters' (often plural in form) is the main controlling office of a company or army, never a small branch. So you might say: 'Maya's workspace is a tidy corner of the open-plan office, and the company's headquarters is in Tokyo.'

office ↗workplace ↗workspace ↗bureau ↗headquarters ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • office building
  • office hours
  • office worker
  • office party
  • office space
  • office equipment
  • office supplies
  • office manager
  • office politics
  • office chair

Adverbs

Phrases

  • take office
  • hold office
  • leave office
  • run for office
  • head office
  • branch office
  • regional office
  • open-plan office
  • back office
  • corner office

Prepositions

  • at the office
  • in the office
  • out of the office
  • to the office
  • from the office

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishModern English

From Old French 'office', meaning a duty or service, taken from Latin 'officium' — a sense of duty or task, formed from 'opus' (work) plus 'facere' (to do or make). In English from the late 13th century, the word first named a duty or position someone was bound to perform; by the 1560s it had also come to mean the room or building where such duties were carried out, and from there the modern senses of company branch and government department developed.