You can make 25 words from office according to the Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.
Definitions and meaning of office
office
Etymology
From Middle Englishoffice, from Old Frenchoffice, from Latinofficium(“personal, official, or moral duty; official position; function; ceremony, esp. last rites”), contracted from opificium(“construction: the act of building or the thing built”), from opifex(“doer of work, craftsman”) + -ium(“-y: forming actions”), from op-(“base of opus: work”) + -i-(“connective”) + -fex(“combining form of facere: to do, to make”).
Use in reference to office software is a genericization of various proprietary program suites, such as Microsoft Office.
Pronunciation
(Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɒfɪs/
(General American, General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈɔfɪs/
(cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈɑfɪs/
Hyphenation: of‧fice
Rhymes: -ɒfɪs
Noun
office (pluraloffices)
(religion) A ceremonial duty or service, particularly:
(Christianity) The authorized form of ceremonial worship of a church.
(Christianity) Any special liturgy, as the Office for the Dead or of the Virgin.
(Christianity) A daily service without the eucharist.
(Catholicism) The daily service of the breviary, the liturgy for each canonical hour, including psalms, collects, and lessons.
In the Latin rite, all bishops, priests, and transitional deacons are obliged to recite the Divine Office daily.
(Protestantism) Various prayers used with modification as a morning or evening service.
(Christianity) Last rites.
(Christianity, obsolete) Mass, (particularly) the introit sung at its beginning.
A position of responsibility.
When the office of Secretary of State is vacant, its duties fall upon an official within the department.
1787, United States Constitution, Article II, §1:
I do solemnly swear... that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Official position, particularly high employment within government; tenure in such a position.
She held office as secretary of state until she left office to run for office.
A duty, particularly owing to one's position or station; a charge, trust, or role; (obsolete, rare) moral duty.
(archaic) Function: anything typically done by or expected of something.
(now usually in plural) A service, a kindness.
1575, Elizabeth I, letter:
...which we have hitherto forborne to graunt... for the evell offices whiche her other Secretary did there.
(figuratively, slang) Inside information.
A room, set of rooms, or building used for non-manual work, particularly:
The office of the Secretary of State is cleaned when it is vacant.
A room, set of rooms, or building used for administration and bookkeeping.
A room, set of rooms, or building used for selling services or tickets to the public.
1819 September 22, John Keats, letter to Reynolds:
There will be some of the family waiting for you at the coach-office.
(chiefly US, medicine) A room, set of rooms, or building used for consultation and diagnosis, but not surgery or other major procedures.
(figuratively) The staff of such places.
The whole office was there... well, except you, of course.
(figuratively, in large organizations) The administrative departments housed in such places, particularly:
He's from our public relations office.
(UK, Australia, usually capitalized, with clarifying modifier) A ministry or other department of government.
The secretary of state's British colleague heads the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
(Catholicism, usually capitalized)Short forHoly Office: the court of final appeal in cases of heresy.
A particular place of business of a larger white-collar business.
He worked as the receptionist at the Akron office.
(now in the plural, dated) The parts of a house or estate devoted to manual work and storage, as the kitchen, scullery, laundry, stables, etc., particularly(euphemistic, dated) a house or estate's facilities for urination and defecation: outhouses or lavatories.
1720, William Willymott translating Francis Bacon as "Of Building" in Lord Bacons Essays, Vol. I, page 283:
As for the Offices, let them stand at some Distance from the House, with some low covered Galleries, to pass from them to the Palace it self.
(UK law, historical)Clipping of inquest of office: an inquest undertaken on occasions when the Crown claimed the right of possession to land or property.
(obsolete) A piece of land used for hunting; the area of land overseen by a gamekeeper.
(figuratively, slang, obsolete) A hangout: a place where one is normally found.
(UK military slang, dated) A plane's cockpit, particularly an observer's cockpit.
(computing) A collection of business software typically including a word processor and spreadsheet and slideshow programs.
(obsolete) An official or group of officials; (figuratively) a personification of officeholders.
(obsolete) A bodily function, (particularly) urination and defecation; an act of urination or defecation.
1764 August 5, David Garrick, letter:
I never, since I left England, till now, have regal'd Myself with a good house of Office... the holes in Germany are... too round, chiefly owing... to the broader bottoms of the Germans.
(obsolete) The performance of a duty; an instance of performing a duty.
Usage notes
In reference to professional services, the term office is used with somewhat greater scope in American English, which speaks of doctor's offices etc., where British English generally prefers particular words such as surgery.
Synonyms
(religious ritual):service, divine service, religious service, liturgy
(Catholic ritual):Divine Office, breviary, Liturgy of the Hours, liturgy of the hours, canonical hours
(position of responsibility):SeeThesaurus:office
(place of work):workplace, workstead
(doctor's office):surgery(UK)
(major governmental division):department, ministry, bureau
(facilities for urination and defecation):SeeThesaurus:bathroom
Hyponyms
(position of responsibility):SeeThesaurus:office
(site of non-manual work):ticket office, box office(selling tickets); post office(governmental mail services)
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
Tok Pisin: opis
→ Bulgarian: о́фис(ófis)
→ Cebuano: opis
→ Iban: opis
→ Marshallese: wōpij
→ Russian: о́фис(ófis)
→ Swahili: afisi
Translations
Verb
office (third-person singular simple presentoffices, present participleofficing, simple past and past participleofficed)
To provide (someone) with an office.
(intransitive) To have an office.
References
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 7th ed. "office". G. & C. Merriam Co. (Springfield), 1967.
The Century Dictionary. "office". The Century Co. (New York), 1911.
Anagrams
coiffe
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latinofficium.
Pronunciation
IPA(key): /ɔ.fis/
Noun
officem (pluraloffices)
charge, task, mandate
administrative bureau, department
religious service, notably liturgical office
place where a household's table (food and drink)-related services are conducted, especially by domestic staff
Derived terms
couteau d’office
faire office de
office des Grandes Heures
office de tourisme
References
Nouveau Petit Larousse illustré. Dictionnaire encyclopédique. Paris, Librairie Larousse, 1952, 146th edition
Further reading
“office”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé[Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
coiffe, coiffé
Latin
Verb
office
second-person singular present active imperative of officiō
Noun
office
ablative singular of offex
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old Frenchoffice, from Latinofficium, contracted form of opificium.