administrate

See also: administratè and administratë

English

Etymology

archaic: Latin administrātus, past participle of administrō.
modern: Back-formation from administration (from administer, also from Latin administrō)

(The exact etymology is disputed, see note below.)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ədˈmɪnɪstɹeɪt/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Hyphenation: ad‧min‧i‧strate

Verb

administrate (third-person singular simple present administrates, present participle administrating, simple past and past participle administrated)

to administer
(computing) the act or function of providing maintenance and general housekeeping for computer systems, networks, peripheral equipment, etc.
The job is to administrate the network.

Usage notes

Administrate is widely regarded as a non-standard alternative to administer, but in some dialects it is preferred or accepted, and in some industries it is preferred as a jargon term in certain contexts.

Although sources such as Merriam-Webster show the etymology of administrate as being directly from Latin in the 16th century, those same sources also indicate that administer and administration can be attested in English in the 14th century, so a back-formation from administration is also plausible.

Google nGram indicates that between 1800 and 2000, "administer" was between 200 and 300 times more common than "administrate". Even since then, it has remained more than 75× more common.

Derived terms

coadministrate

Related terms

Translations

administer — see administer

References

“administrate, v.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.

Esperanto

Pronunciation

Audio: (file)

Adverb

administrate

present adverbial passive participle of administri

Latin

Verb

administrāte

second-person plural present active imperative of administrō

Spanish

Verb

administrate

second-person singular voseo imperative of administrar combined with te