executive

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: ex=ec=u=tive

CIDE DICTIONARY

executive, a. [Cf.F. exécutif.].

•  Designed or fitted for execution, or carrying into effect; as, executive talent; qualifying for, concerned with, or pertaining to, the execution of the laws or the conduct of affairs; as, executive power or authority; executive duties, officer, department, etc.  [1913 Webster]

  " In government, executive is distinguished from legislative and judicial; legislative being applied to the organ or organs of government which make the laws; judicial, to that which interprets and applies the laws; executive, to that which carries them into effect or secures their due performance."  [1913 Webster]
•  of or pertaining to an executive{2} or to the group of executives within an organization; as, executive compensation increased more rapidly than wages in the 1980's; the executive suite.  [PJC]

executive, n. 

•  An impersonal title of the chief magistrate or officer who administers the government, whether king, president, or governor; the governing person or body.  [1913 Webster]
•  a person who has administrative authority over an organization or division of an organization; a manager, supervisor or administrator at a high level within an organization; as, all executives of the company were given stock options  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

executive, n. & adj.
--n.
1 a person or body with managerial or administrative responsibility in a business organization etc.; a senior businessman.
2 a branch of a government or organization concerned with executing laws, agreements, etc., or with other administration or management.
--adj.
1 concerned with executing laws, agreements, etc., or with other administration or management.
2 relating to or having the function of executing.

Idiom

executive session US a usu. private meeting of a legislative body for executive business.

Derivative

executively adv.

Etymology

med.L executivus (as EXECUTE)

DEVIL DICTIONARY

executive

n. An officer of the Government, whose duty it is to enforce the wishes of the legislative power until such time as the judicial department shall be pleased to pronounce them invalid and of no effect. Following is an extract from an old book entitled, _The Lunarian Astonished_ -- Pfeiffer & Co., Boston, 1803:

LUNARIAN: Then when your Congress has passed a law it goes
directly to the Supreme Court in order that it may at once be
known whether it is constitutional?
TERRESTRIAN: O no; it does not require the approval of the
Supreme Court until having perhaps been enforced for many
years somebody objects to its operation against himself -- I
mean his client. The President, if he approves it, begins to
execute it at once.
LUNARIAN: Ah, the executive power is a part of the legislative.
Do your policemen also have to approve the local ordinances
that they enforce?
TERRESTRIAN: Not yet -- at least not in their character of
constables. Generally speaking, though, all laws require the
approval of those whom they are intended to restrain.
LUNARIAN: I see. The death warrant is not valid until signed by
the murderer.
TERRESTRIAN: My friend, you put it too strongly; we are not so
consistent.
LUNARIAN: But this system of maintaining an expensive judicial
machinery to pass upon the validity of laws only after they
have long been executed, and then only when brought before the
court by some private person -- does it not cause great
confusion?
TERRESTRIAN: It does.
LUNARIAN: Why then should not your laws, previously to being
executed, be validated, not by the signature of your
President, but by that of the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court?
TERRESTRIAN: There is no precedent for any such course.
LUNARIAN: Precedent. What is that?
TERRESTRIAN: It has been defined by five hundred lawyers in three
volumes each. So how can any one know?

THESAURUS

executive

administrating, administration, administrative, administrator, archon, big cheese, board, board of directors, board of regents, board of trustees, boss, bureaucratic, businessman, businesswoman, cabinet, cadre, captain, castellan, chancellor, chatelain, chatelaine, chief executive, chief executive officer, commandant, commander, council, dean, directing, director, directorate, directorship, directory, entrepreneur, exec, executive arm, executive committee, executive director, executive hierarchy, executive officer, executive secretary, foreman, governing, governing board, governing body, government, governmental, governor, gubernatorial, head, infrastructure, intendant, interlocking directorate, kingpin, leader, leadership, magistrate, management, manager, managerial, managing, managing director, master, ministerial, number one, officer, official, officiating, overseer, prefect, president, presiding, prexy, principal, provost, regulatory, ruler, secretary, steering committee, superintendent, supervision, supervisor, supervisory, the administration, the brass, the executive, the people upstairs, top brass, top dog, treasurer, vice-chancellor, vice-president, warden

ROGET THESAURUS

executive

Conduct

N conduct, behavior, deportment, comportment, carriage, maintien, demeanor, guise, bearing, manner, observance, dealing, transaction, business, tactics, game, game plan, policy, polity, generalship, statesmanship, seamanship, strategy, strategics, plan, management, husbandry, housekeeping, housewifery, stewardship, menage, regime, economy, economics, political economy, government, execution, manipulation, treatment, campaign, career, life, course, walk, race, record, course of conduct, line of conduct, line of action, line of proceeding, role, process, ways, practice, procedure, modus operandi, MO, method of operating, method, path, conducting, strategical, businesslike, practical, executive.

Government

N government, legal authority, soveriegn, sovereign authority, authority, master, direction, national government, nation, state, country, nation- state, dominion, republic, empire, union, democratic republic, kingdom, principality, state government, state, shire, province, county, canton, territory, duchy, archduchy, archdukedom, woiwodshaft, commonwealth, region, property, county, parish city, domain, tract, arrondissement, mofussil, commune, wappentake, hundred, riding, lathe, garth, soke, tithing, ward, precinct, bailiwick, command, empire, sway, rule, dominion, domination, sovereignty, supremacy, suzerainty, lordship, headship, chiefdom, seigniory, seigniority, rule, sway, command, control, administer, govern, lead, preside over, reign, possess the throne, be seated on the throne, occupy the throne, sway the scepter, wield the scepter, wear the crown, state, realm, body politic, posse comitatus, judicature, cabinet, seat of government, seat of authority, headquarters, accession, installation, politics, reign, regime, dynasty, directorship, dictatorship, protectorate, protectorship, caliphate, pashalic, electorate, presidency, presidentship, administration, proconsul, consulship, prefecture, seneschalship, magistrature, magistracy, monarchy, kinghood, kingship, royalty, regality, aristarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy, theocracy, demagogy, commonwealth, dominion, heteronomy, republic, republicanism, socialism, collectivism, mob law, mobocracy, ochlocracy, vox populi, imperium in imperio, bureaucracy, beadledom, bumbledom, stratocracy, military power, military government, junta, feodality, feudal system, feudalism, thearchy, theocracy, dinarchy, duarchy, triarchy, heterarchy, duumvirate, triumvirate, autocracy, autonomy, limited monarchy, constitutional government, constitutional monarchy, home rule, representative government, monocracy, pantisocracy, gynarchy, gynocracy, gynaeocracy, petticoat government, legislature, judiciary, administration, office of the president, office of the prime minister, cabinet, senate, house of representatives, parliament, council, courts, supreme court, state, interior, labor, health and human services, defense, education, agriculture, justice, commerce, treasury, Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, National Institutes of Health, NIH, Postal Service, Post Office, Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, president, vice president, cabinet member, prime minister, minister, senator, representatative, president pro tem, speaker of the house, department head, section head, section chief, federal judge, justice, justice of the supreme court, chief justice, treasurer, secretary of the treasury, director of the FBI, governor, state cabinet member, state senator, assemblyman, assemblywoman, regal, sovereign, governing, royal, royalist, monarchical, kingly, imperial, imperiatorial, princely, feudal, aristocratic, autocratic, oligarchic, republican, dynastic, ruling, regnant, gubernatorial, imperious, authoritative, executive, administrative, clothed with authority, official, departmental, ex officio, imperative, peremptory, overruling, absolute, hegemonic, hegemonical, authorized, government, public, national, federal, his majesty's, her majesty's, state, county, city, N, a dog's obeyed in office, cada uno tiene su alguazil, le Roi le veut, regibus esse manus en nescio longas, regnant populi, the demigod Authority, the right divine of kings to govern wrong, uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

Jurisdiction

N jurisdiction, judicature, administration of justice, soc, executive, commission of the peace, magistracy, judge, tribunal, municipality, corporation, bailiwick, shrievalty, lord lieutenant, sheriff, shire reeve, shrieve, constable, selectman, police, police force, the fuzz, constabulary, bumbledom, gendarmerie, officer, bailiff, tipstaff, bum-bailiff, catchpoll, beadle, policeman, cop, police constable, police sergeant, sbirro, alguazil, gendarme, kavass, lictor, mace bearer, huissier, bedel, tithingman, press gang, exciseman, gauger, gager, customhouse officer, douanier, coroner, edile, aedile, portreeve, paritor, posse comitatus, bureau, cutcherry, department, secretariat, long arm of the law, extradition, executive, administrative, municipal, inquisitorial, causidical, judicatory, judiciary, judicial, juridical, coram judice, jurisdiction, judicature, administration of justice, soc, executive, commission of the peace, magistracy, judge, tribunal, municipality, corporation, bailiwick, shrievalty, lord lieutenant, sheriff, shire reeve, shrieve, constable, selectman, police, police force, the fuzz, constabulary, bumbledom, gendarmerie, officer, bailiff, tipstaff, bum-bailiff, catchpoll, beadle, policeman, cop, police constable, police sergeant, sbirro, alguazil, gendarme, kavass, lictor, mace bearer, huissier, bedel, tithingman, press gang, exciseman, gauger, gager, customhouse officer, douanier, coroner, edile, aedile, portreeve, paritor, posse comitatus, bureau, cutcherry, department, secretariat, long arm of the law, extradition, executive, administrative, municipal, inquisitorial, causidical, judicatory, judiciary, judicial, juridical, coram judice.