magistrate

C1 Topic:Law & Government

US /ˈmæd͡ʒ.ɪˌstɹeɪt/ See IPA manual

Freq #7750

Meanings

1

noun
An official who acts as a judge in a lower court, dealing with minor offences.

The magistrate fined him for driving without a licence.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms magistrates

Derived forms magistracymagistrateshipmagistraticmagistraticalunmagistrate

Related forms magister master mister

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

stipendiary magistrate
a magistrate paid a regular salary for judicial work

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Magistrate entered English in the late Middle Ages from Latin magistratus, “administrator,” itself derived from magister, “master.” Master and its later weakened form mister belong to the same word family.

Etymology

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

magistrat Middle English magistrātus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Law & Government Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# magistrate

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈmæd͡ʒ.ɪˌstɹeɪt/
**Frequency rank:** 7750

## Meanings
1. An official who acts as a judge in a lower court, dealing with minor offences.

## Examples
- The magistrate fined him for driving without a licence.

## Derived Forms
- magistracy
- magistrateship
- magistratic
- magistratical
- unmagistrate

## Related Forms
- magister
- master
- mister

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: magistrat
- Root: magistrātus

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

## AI Etymology
Magistrate comes from Middle English magistrat, maiestrat (“magistrate; magistracy”), borrowed from Latin magistrātus. See also -ate (forms nouns denoting rank or office). The historical chain includes magistrat (Middle English) and magistrātus (Latin). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as magistracy, magistrateship, magistratic, and magistratical and related forms such as magister, master, and mister. In present use it covers an official who acts as a judge in a lower court, dealing with minor offences.

## Topics
- Law & Government
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown