preside
Formspresides, presiding, presided
- 1To act as the chairperson or president of a meeting, ceremony, or organized gathering.
The senior partner agreed to preside at the firm's annual meeting.
A retired diplomat presided over the lengthy peace negotiations.
Similarofficiate, chair, moderate
Note
The image underneath is a seated one. Old French presider comes from Latin praesidēre, built from pre- "before" and sedere "to sit": the chair is the person who sits in front of the assembly. English once had its own word for this, foresittan, perhaps a loan-translation of the Latin, and preside displaced it. The verb is intransitive, so it takes a preposition rather than an object: one presides at or over a meeting.
- 2To hold and exercise authority or control over people, affairs, or a domain.
For decades the family matriarch presided over the estate and its many workers.
Few leaders preside over such turbulent times without making enemies.
Note
Here authority extends beyond the meeting room to anything a person oversees: a department, an estate, an era. Because the verb travels with over, it turns passive easily (a department presided over by a quiet expert), even though it never takes a direct object. Its rare synonym oversit keeps the same picture of sitting in charge that lies behind the chairing sense.
- 3To serve as the featured solo performer at a musical or staged event.
Her uncle will preside at the organ during the Christmas Eve service.
A young cellist presided at the bandstand all afternoon, playing solo pieces for the crowd in the park.
Similarperform
Note
Musicians extend the chairing image: the featured soloist is the one a performance gathers around, much as a meeting faces its chair. The usual construction is preside at, and it often names the instrument rather than the venue: at the organ, at the piano. The tone is slightly elevated, which suits church services and formal recitals.
Practice
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Origin
From Old French presider, from Latin praesidēre ("preside"), which combines pre- ("before") with sedere ("to sit"). It displaced the Old English foresittan, which may have been a calque of the Latin.