☼ Concept Map

''magistrate'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

↩ 🔳 🔳 🔳

Primary

⁀➴

''magistrate'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260331180822-00-⌔

magistrate - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

magistrate (plural magistrates)

  • (law) A judicial officer with limited authority to administer and enforce the law. A magistrate’s court may have jurisdiction in civil or criminal cases, or both.
    • ✤ In any case, however, I saw that part of her injuries might easily have been redressed, and I urged her often and earnestly to lay her complaint before a magistrate.1
  • (historical) A high official of the state or a municipality in ancient Greece or Rome.
  • (by extension) A comparable official in medieval or modern institutions.
    • ✤ Like other civil servants, Ashok Kumar started his career as an Assistant Collector cum Sub-divisional Magistrate.
  • (Quebec) A master’s degree.

Etymology

From Middle English magistrat, maiestrat (“magistrate; magistracy”), borrowed from Latin magistrātus. See also -ate (forms nouns denoting rank or office).

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈmæd͡ʒ.ɪˌstɹeɪt/, /ˈmæd͡ʒ.ɪ.stɹɪt/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Hyphenation: ma‧gis‧trate

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1821, Thomas De Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater: ↩

Link to original

Secondary

• • •