functionaryformal
in sport, a person who is in charge of making sure players follow the rules :
The official blew the whistle when the ball went out of bounds.
The coach was arguing with the official who had awarded the penalty.
The whole system was corrupt - every official she approached wanted money before helping her.整个体系都腐败了——她接触的所有官员在帮她之前都索要钱财。
An official from the Department of Health will be inspecting the restaurant this afternoon.今天下午卫生部的一名官员要来视察这家餐馆。
The customs official beckoned the woman to his counter.海关官员示意那个妇女到他桌前来。
The information was given by a Vatican official.那条消息是一位罗马教廷的官员提供的。
Senior government officials will be attending a meeting tomorrow.政府高级官员们明天将参加一个会议。

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

People in charge of or controlling other people
acephalous
administrator
anti-management
authority
bureaucrat
controller
council
counter-power
dean
deputy
manipulator
mistress
movers and shakers
multi-headed
officer
troika
tsar
vice presidency
vice president
vicegerency

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Refereeing & judging in sport
People who analyse and judge

official | American Dictionary

official
noun[ C ]
us/əˈfɪʃ·əl/
a person who has a position of responsibility in an organization:
a senior official
official
adjective
us/əˈfɪʃ·əl/
connected with or arranged by someone in a position of responsibility:
an official announcement

officially

adverbus/əˈfɪʃ·ə·li/
The name of the new director will be officially announced in June.

official | Business English

official
adjective
uk /əˈfɪʃəl/us
agreed to or arranged by people in positions of authority:
The trust is expected to receive official permission to sell its shares.
We obtained official documents that were necessary to start the work.
An official inquiry is currently investigating some of the most serious allegations.
used to describe something that has been announced publicly by someone in a position of authority:
So far, there has been no official announcement from the company.
related to your work rather than your personal life:
He was acting in his official capacity.
Even on official business they still find time for a little tourism.
I accompanied the minister on his official visit to Prague.
relating to a position of responsibility:
They chose him as their official representative in the talks with the management.
official
noun[ C ]
uk /əˈfɪʃəl/us
a person who has a position of responsibility in an organization:
a trade union/government official

Examples of official

official
Senior government officials and clergymen also had special pension systems.
He also served as a consultant for some high-ranking officials, but he never took any such position himself.
The question is whether anyone should care how diligent these officials really are.
On the other, law enforcement officials must diligently serve and protect citizens of the state.
He cursed the trams and queues, the informers and careerists, the limousines the officials used.
The swarms of outside observers, commentators and officials were unable to understand this language.
More transparently, some officials in receipt of stipends, both craftsmen and estate officials, received wages as well.
My school's officials tend to think that way.
Additionally, school officials should help the faculty define their main goals and primary constituencies.
Many of the farmers were nobi, enslaved men and women working either for the state or for yangban and government officials.
Many notices were issued by local officials to this effect.
All of the above cases were either relatively simple or did not cause much argument, and no judicial punishment was made by the officials.
The officials did not take note of all the research, and there was no cooperation at all.
According to them, the probability of being caught for rule violations is low, as the officials are not engaged in strict and regular monitoring.
In our field work and during the survey we spent considerable time discussing with officials about the way they pushed water management reforms.
See all examples of official
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations withofficial

official

These are words often used in combination with official.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

administration officials
The authors express surprise at this fear, which they acknowledged was rife amongst the administration officials.
airport official
Why was it necessary to include an airportofficial in article 18(3)(i)?
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