administrator
Pluraladministrators
- 1A person who directs, manages, executes, or carries out affairs, whether in civil, judicial, political, or religious matters.
Like a conductor keeping every section of an orchestra in time.
The hospital administrator oversaw budgets, staffing, and daily operations.
Church administrators coordinated the parish finances throughout the year.
Similarmanager, director, executive, official
Note
The general sense, and the one the Latin behind the word explains best. Administrātor meant literally "he that is near to attend": someone who serves close at hand before he directs. In current use the word often works as a title, readily taking qualifiers such as acting (the acting administrator of a government agency), or it names a whole class of staff by setting, as in school administrators.
- 2A person responsible for the installation of software and the management, information, and maintenance of a computer or network.
Like a stage manager who controls the lights, sound, and access backstage.
The administrator scheduled nightly backups to prevent data loss.
Network administrators patched the servers before the security audit.
- 3A person appointed by competent authority to manage or settle the estate of someone who died without a will, or whose will named no competent executor.
Like a referee brought in to divide an inheritance no one left clear instructions for.
As administrator, he paid off the outstanding debts before distributing the remaining assets.
The court appointed two administrators to settle the intestate's complex estate.
Note
Law draws a sharp line here between two people who do the same work. An executor is chosen by the deceased in a will. An administrator is put in place by an authority because there was no will, or no executor able to act. The person who died without a will is the intestate, and what the administrator holds is a right of administration, committed by that authority rather than inherited.
Practice
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Origin
Borrowed from Latin administrātor, literally "he that is near to attend." It is a doublet of administrador.