presidium

noun pre·sid·i·um \ pri-ˈsi-dē-əm , prē- , -ˈzi- \

variants: or less commonly praesidium play \pri-ˈsi-dē-əm, prē-, prī-\

|Updated on: 12 Jun 2018

Definition of presidium

plural presidia play \pri-ˈsi-dē-ə, prē-, -ˈzi-, prī-\ or presidiums

1 : a permanent executive committee selected especially in Communist countries to act for a larger body

2 : a nongovernmental executive committee

Recent Examples of presidium from the Web

In this photo distributed by the North Korean government, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un holds a meeting of the ruling party's presidium.

— anna fifield, Washington Post, "For Kim Jong Un, nuclear weapons are a security blanket. And he wants to keep it.," 5 Sep. 2017
Mr. Kim leads the presidium, which has two other members: Kim Yong-nam, the head of Parliament, and Hwang Pyong-so, the chief political officer of the military.

— choe sang-hun, New York Times, "North Korea, Always Quotable: 9 Memorable Statements From Kim Jong-un’s Reign," 9 May 2016
The congress also elevated two of Mr. Kim’s closest aides — the party secretary, Choe Ryong-hae, and Pak Pong-ju, the prime minister and chief economic official — to join the presidium of the party’s Politburo.

— choe sang-hun, New York Times, "North Korea, Always Quotable: 9 Memorable Statements From Kim Jong-un’s Reign," 9 May 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'presidium.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of presidium

Russian prezidium, from Latin praesidium garrison

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1920

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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