office

Synonym Chooser

How is the word office distinct from other similar nouns?

Some common synonyms of office are duty, function, and province. While all these words mean "the acts or operations expected of a person or thing," office is typically applied to the function or service associated with a trade or profession or a special relationship to others.

they exercise the offices of the judge, the priest, the counsellor — W. E. Gladstone

In what contexts can duty take the place of office?

While the synonyms duty and office are close in meaning, duty applies to a task or responsibility imposed by one's occupation, rank, status, or calling.

it is the judicial duty of the court, to examine the whole case — R. B. Taney

When is it sensible to use function instead of office?

While in some cases nearly identical to office, function implies a definite end or purpose or a particular kind of work.

the function of language is two-fold: to communicate emotion and to give information — Aldous Huxley

When could province be used to replace office?

The meanings of province and office largely overlap; however, province applies to a function, office, or duty that naturally or logically falls to one.

I felt it was not my province to inquire — Anne Brontë

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of office But Jamey VanVliet, special agent in charge at the Nashville ATF office, did not say what those hypotheses were. Kirsten Fiscus, Nashville Tennessean, 24 Oct. 2025 In its first weekend, the film brought in $163 million at the box office, accoring to NBC Universal. Angelika Ytuarte, jsonline.com, 24 Oct. 2025 According to multiple sources, the special education office is now left with just a handful of top executives and support staff. The Npr Network, NPR, 22 Oct. 2025 At one point, convinced that one of the screenwriters who was on set polishing the script was leaking information to Weinstein, Scorsese rushed into the office and flung his desk out the window. Brent Lang, Variety, 22 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for office
Recent Examples of Synonyms for office
Noun
  • The police department previously booked him into the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department High Desert Detention Center on a murder charge, which was dropped during his arraignment on Tuesday, according to ABC7.
    Ingrid Vasquez, PEOPLE, 22 Oct. 2025
  • Spokespeople for Arizona’s Medicaid and Economic Security departments — Johnny Córdoba and Brett Bezio, respectively — did not share data on how many people participated in the state’s pilot test nor describe the outcome.
    Rae Ellen Bichell, CNN Money, 22 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Grohl handled the drum duties himself on the album, and the band hired Josh Freese for the tour.
    Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2025
  • The lineup splits evenly between Indonesian talent and international helmers, with each duo sharing writing and directing duties.
    Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 23 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • His cause of death has yet to be determined, and the incident remains under investigation by multiple local law enforcement agencies.
    Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 20 Oct. 2025
  • No injuries were reported from the incident, which took place in an area where the highway patrol had stopped traffic during the live fire exercise at Camp Pendleton, the agency said in a statement Sunday.
    Susannah Cullinane, CNN Money, 20 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The Trail Blazers deferred comment to the NBA and announced that an assistant coach, Tiago Splitter, would assume head coaching responsibilities.
    Andrew Greif, NBC news, 24 Oct. 2025
  • Where previously, these creative players often played without much defensive responsibility, modern head coaches are likely to ask their attacking midfielder to join an aggressive press or retreat into a structured block alongside the striker or fellow midfielders.
    Mark Carey, New York Times, 23 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • John Magsam is the Northwest Arkansas bureau chief.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Created by law in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the bureau developed a reputation as an aggressive enforcer of fair lending and consumer protection laws.
    Andy Kroll, ProPublica, 18 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • In generic financial crises, that often appear quite suddenly, many individuals, businesses or governments cannot meet their financial obligations, whether payments of interest or principal on loans or simply paying for goods purchased or even wages due.
    Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 19 Oct. 2025
  • Casting is clearly a challenge for Panahi’s movies, which are shot without permits in direct violation of the law (bypassing the obligation to submit his scripts to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for approval).
    Peter Debruge, Variety, 18 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The Rooms All of the hotel’s 89 rooms have balconies, desks, king-size beds (or the option for two twins), and toiletries from Costa Brazil, the sustainable beauty brand from Brazilian fashion designer Francisco Costa.
    Hannah Walhout, Travel + Leisure, 18 Oct. 2025
  • There’s a desk to work at and a sofa.
    Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 18 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • By deploying solvers on scalable cloud platforms, firms avoid the need for expensive local hardware, lowering barriers for CAE adoption among businesses.
    Ni Tao, Interesting Engineering, 21 Oct. 2025
  • For all its limitations, mediocrity is immeasurably superior to ceaseless ambition, the need always for superlative achievement.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Office.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/office. Accessed 26 Oct. 2025.

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