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 Elsewhere, return-to-office mandates have stripped away flexible working arrangements for some employees. Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2025 Inspectors found food debris on a can opener and knives stored above the prep table next to the office. Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 17 Oct. 2025 In his statement, Taylor did not say Elia was still employed in his office. Victoria Moorwood, Cincinnati Enquirer, 17 Oct. 2025 The sketches by Italian artist Marcello Dudovich that are featured in another window once adorned the stores and offices of Loro Piana, and were collected by the family. David Moin, Footwear News, 17 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
  • Some of the 12 players who were away on international duty returned to training yesterday.
    Paul Taylor, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Perozek already held that title, but after Lisa Thompson resigned as executive editor in July the job description of managing editor was rewritten to include duties that previously had been the executive editor's.
    Bill Bowden, Arkansas Online, 16 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
  • Milne joined the network in 2019 as managing editor of CBS This Morning, and took on additional responsibilities, like breaking news, the following year.
    Ted Johnson, Deadline, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Sponsors assume no responsibility for any error, omissions, interruption, deletion, defect or delay in operation with transmission, communications, line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or allegation of submissions.
    CNN Money, CNN Money, 16 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 23 Oct. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on office

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