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Meaning of official in English

official
adjective
uk
/əˈfɪʃ.əl/ us
/əˈfɪʃ.əl/
C2
relating to a position of responsibility:
He visited China in his official capacity as America's trade representative.
Number Ten Downing Street is the British prime minister's official residence.
Opposite
unofficial
B2
agreed to or arranged by people in positions of authority:
the official photos of the president's tour of India
The Queen will attend the official opening of the theatre in June.
There is to be an official inquiry into the incident.
C2
If a piece of information is official, it has been announced publicly with authority:
Their engagement is now official.
Inflation has fallen below two percent, and that's official.
An official language is one that is used by the government of a country when making its laws, in official documents, etc.:
Arabic is the official language of about 20 countries.
There was a vote on which language should become the official one.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Organizations - position & status
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official
noun [ C ]
uk
/əˈfɪʃ.əl/ us
/əˈfɪʃ.əl/
C2
a person who has a position of responsibility in an organization:
a government/trade-union/council official
Synonym
functionary formal
More examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
People in charge of or controlling other people
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(Definition of official from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

official | American Dictionary

official
noun [ C ]
us
/əˈfɪʃ·əl/
a person who has a position of responsibility in an organization:
a senior official
official
adjective
us
/əˈfɪʃ·əl/
connected with or arranged by someone in a position of responsibility:
an official announcement

officially

adverb us
/əˈfɪʃ·ə·li/
The name of the new director will be officially announced in June.
(Definition of official from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

official | Business English

official
adjective
uk
/əˈfɪʃəl/ us
agreed to or arranged by people in positions of authority:
The trust is expected to receive official permission to sell its shares.
We obtained official documents that were necessary to start the work.
An official inquiry is currently investigating some of the most serious allegations.
used to describe something that has been announced publicly by someone in a position of authority:
So far, there has been no official announcement from the company.
related to your work rather than your personal life:
He was acting in his official capacity.
Even on official business they still find time for a little tourism.
I accompanied the minister on his official visit to Prague.
relating to a position of responsibility:
They chose him as their official representative in the talks with the management.
official
noun [ C ]
uk
/əˈfɪʃəl/ us
a person who has a position of responsibility in an organization:
a trade union/government official
(Definition of official from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of official

official
Senior government officials and clergymen also had special pension systems.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
He also served as a consultant for some high-ranking officials, but he never took any such position himself.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The question is whether anyone should care how diligent these officials really are.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
On the other, law enforcement officials must diligently serve and protect citizens of the state.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
He cursed the trams and queues, the informers and careerists, the limousines the officials used.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The swarms of outside observers, commentators and officials were unable to understand this language.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
More transparently, some officials in receipt of stipends, both craftsmen and estate officials, received wages as well.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
My school's officials tend to think that way.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Additionally, school officials should help the faculty define their main goals and primary constituencies.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Many of the farmers were nobi, enslaved men and women working either for the state or for yangban and government officials.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Many notices were issued by local officials to this effect.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
All of the above cases were either relatively simple or did not cause much argument, and no judicial punishment was made by the officials.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The officials did not take note of all the research, and there was no cooperation at all.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
According to them, the probability of being caught for rule violations is low, as the officials are not engaged in strict and regular monitoring.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In our field work and during the survey we spent considerable time discussing with officials about the way they pushed water management reforms.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
See all examples of official
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with official

official

These are words often used in combination with official.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

administration officials
The authors express surprise at this fear, which they acknowledged was rife amongst the administration officials.
From the Cambridge English Corpus  
airport official
Why was it necessary to include an airport official in article 18(3)(i)?
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
 
appointed official
The district auditor is the appointed official who has responsibility for investigating allegations of this nature.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
 
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with official

Translations of official

in Chinese (Traditional)
官員的, 公職的, 公務的…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
官员的, 公职的, 公务的…
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in Spanish
oficial, funcionario, funcionaria…
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in Portuguese
oficial, funcionário, -a…
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in more languages
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Arabic
in Czech
in Danish
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Korean
in Ukrainian
in Italian
in Russian
公式な, 政府高官, 役員…
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resmî, herkesçe bilinen, malum…
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officiel/-elle, représentant/-ante [masculine-feminine], officiel…
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oficial, funcionari, -ària…
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رَسْمي, مَسْؤول…
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úřední, oficiální, úředník…
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officiel, embedsmand, -embedsmand…
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resmi, pejabat…
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ทางราชการ, ที่เป็นทางการ, เจ้าหน้าที่…
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thuộc chính quyền, chính thức, công chức…
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oficjalny, (wyższy) urzędnik, urzędowy…
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rasmi, pegawai…
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Amts-…, Dienst-…, offiziell…
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offisiell, embeds-, tjenestemann [masculine]…
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공식적인, 공무원, 임원…
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службовий, посадовий, офіційний…
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ufficiale, funzionario, -a…
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официальный, служебный, должностной…
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office-bearer
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office-holder
officer
official
official exchange rate
official language
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official receiver

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