How to spell administrative

hear itad·min·is·tra·tive/æd'mɪnɪ,streɪtɪv/adjectiveRules and real life

What it means: Relating to managing a business or organization.

In a sentence: The principal works in the administrative office at school.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as adminstrative or administritive.

Same family: administration, administrator, admin, administrative assistant, administratively. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Administrative” comes from Latin roots ad- (“to, toward”) and ministrare (“to serve, manage”), the same root that gives us “minister.” It originally had the sense of someone who ‘serves’ by managing the affairs of others, especially in government or churches.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

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Words like this

accurate · funeral · measure · certificate · necessarily · calendar · definitely · refund

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