| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| administrate, administer (vv.) |
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| Administrate is somewhat less frequently used than administer, perhaps because it is longer and sounds stuffier, but they are synonyms, and each is Standard in every respect. Some have faulted administrate as a back-formation (which would be no crime), but in fact it isn’t a back-formation at all; it just looks like one. Whereas administer was formed in the fourteenth century from the Latin infinitive administrare, administrate was formed in the seventeenth century from administratus, the past participle of administrare. Like administer, administrate is both transitive and intransitive. | 1 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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