President - Wiktionary

See also: President, président, and præsident

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:presidentWikipedia

Alternative forms

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• President (honorific)
• praesident, præsident (archaic)

Etymology

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From Old French president, from Latin praesidēns (“presiding over; president, leader”) (accusative: praesidentem). The Latin word is the substantivized present active participle of the verb praesideō (“preside over”). The verb is composed from prae (“before”) and sedeō (“sit”). The original meaning of the verb is 'to sit before' in the sense of presiding at a meeting. A secondary meaning of the verb is 'to command, to govern'. So praesidēns means 'the presiding one on a meeting' or 'governor, commander'.

Pronunciation

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• IPA(key): /ˈpɹɛzɪdənt/

• Audio (UK); “the president”:

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pre‧si‧dent
• Rhymes: -ɛzɪdənt

Noun

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president (plural presidents)

1. The head of state of a republic. The vast majority of presidents have been male.
   • 1965, Harry S. Truman, 0:20 from the start, in MP2002-401 Former President Truman Discusses "The Buck Stops Here"‎[1], Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162:Well, nobody else can make a decision but me because I was the President and the final decision comes to the President, you know. I used to have a sign on my desk that said, "The Buck Stops Here." The buck stops at the president's desk when he's president of the United States, and he either makes the decisions or he lets them go by default, and you can't afford to do that when you're president.
   • 2007, Benjamin Camins, Hillary Is the Best Choice, Page 144 […] to change the pattern of the last 220 years of only voting for a white male president, and elect a woman president […]
   • 2025 February 12, Kaitlan Collins and Kevin Liptak, “After Putin call, Trump says negotiations to end Ukraine war will start ‘immediately’”, in CNN‎[2]:The call, which is the first known conversation between the presidents since Trump assumed office last month, came as as[sic] Trump makes clear to his advisers he wants to bring the Ukraine conflict to a swift end. […] The last US president to visit Russia was Barack Obama in 2013, when he attended a G20 summit.
2. In presidential republics, the head of government and head of state.
3. Primary leader of a corporation. Not to be confused with CEO, which is a related but separate position that is sometimes held by a different person.
4. A person presiding over a meeting; a chair, presiding officer, presider.
   • 1803, Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution‎[3]:The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President,[…]
5. Obsolete form of precedent.
   • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vii:The thirſt of raigne and ſweetnes of a crowne,That cauſd the eldeſt ſonne of heauenly Ops,To thruſt his doting father from his chaire,And place himſelfe in the Emperiall heauen,Moou’d me to menage armes againſt thy ſtate.What better preſident than mightie Ioue?

Synonyms

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• (American head of state): POTUS
• (head of a college or university): provost (UK)
• (head of various specific bodies): prepositus
• (informal, jocular): prexy, prez

Derived terms

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• copresident
• dead president
• ex-president
• Lady Presidentress
• Madame President
• Madam President
• minister-president
• Mrs. President
• Ms. President
• municipal president
• president-elect
• presidentess
• presidenthood
• presidential
• presidentless
• President Musk
• president pro tempore
• presidentress
• President Roxas
• presidentship
• vice-president
• vice president
• who died and made you president

Translations

[edit] the head of state of a republic

Afrikaans: president (af) Albanian: president (sq) m Amharic: ፕሬዝዳንት (pərezdant) Antillean Creole: prézidann Apache: Western Apache: nantʼán Arabic: رَئِيس m (raʔīs), رَئِيسَة f (raʔīsa) Armenian: նախագահ (hy) (naxagah) Assamese: ৰাষ্ট্ৰপতি (rastropoti) Asturian: presidente m Azerbaijani: prezident, rəisicümhur (obsolete), cümhurbaşqanı (neologism) South Azerbaijani: رئیس‌جمهور (reyisijumhur), رئیس (reyis) Basque: lehendakari Belarusian: прэзідэ́нт m (prezidént), прэзідэ́нтка f (prezidéntka) Bengali: রাষ্ট্রপতি (bn) (raśṭropoti) Breton: prezidant (br) m, prezidantez (br) f Bulgarian: президе́нт m (prezidént), президе́нтка f (prezidéntka) Burmese: သမ္မတ (my) (samma.ta.) Buryat: юрэнхылэгшэ (jurenxylegše) Carpathian Rusyn: презіде́нт m (prezidént) Catalan: president (ca) m, presidenta (ca) f Chechen: президент (prezident) Chinese: Cantonese: 總統 / 总统 (zung2 tung2) Dungan: зунтун (zuntun) Eastern Min: 總統 / 总统 (cūng-tūng) Hakka: 總統 / 总统 (chúng-thúng) Mandarin: 總統 / 总统 (zh) (zǒngtǒng), 主席 (zh) (zhǔxí) Wu: 總統 / 总统 (5tson-thon) Coptic: ϩⲩⲅⲟⲩⲙⲉⲛⲟⲥ m (hugoumenos) Cornish: lewydh m, lewydhes f Czech: prezident (cs) m, prezidentka (cs) f Danish: præsident (da) c Dhivehi: ރައީސް (raīs) Dutch: president (nl) m Erzya: президент (prezident), масторонь прявт (mastoroń pŕavt) Esperanto: prezidanto Estonian: president (et) Faroese: forseti m Finnish: presidentti (fi) French: président (fr) m, présidente (fr) f Galician: presidente (gl) m, presidenta f Georgian: პრეზიდენტი (ṗrezidenṭi) German: Präsident (de) m, Präsidentin (de) f Greek: πρόεδρος (el) m or f (próedros) Ancient: προστάτης m (prostátēs) Gujarati: રાષ્ટ્રપતિ (rāṣṭrapti) Haitian Creole: prezidan Hawaiian: pelekikena Hebrew: נָשִׂיא (he) (nasí), נְשִׂיאָה f Hindi: राष्ट्रपति (hi) m (rāṣṭrapti), सदर (hi) m (sadar) Hungarian: elnök (hu), államelnök (hu), (of a republic) köztársasági elnök Icelandic: forseti (is) m Indonesian: presiden (id) Irish: uachtarán m Italian: presidente (it) m or f, presidentessa (it) f, presidente della repubblica m or f, presidentessa della repubblica f, capo dello stato m Japanese: 大統領 (ja) (だいとうりょう, daitōryō), 総統 (ja) (そうとう, sōtō) Kalmyk: ерңкәлгч (yerñkälgç) Kannada: ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಪತಿ (kn) (rāṣṭrapati) Kazakh: президент (prezident), елбасы (elbasy) (special title in Kazakhstan) Khmer: ប្រធានាធិបតី (km) (prɑthiəniəthɨppaʼdəy) Korean: 대통령(大統領) (ko) (daetongnyeong), 총통(總統) (chongtong) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: سەرۆک (ckb) (serok) Northern Kurdish: serok (ku), serokkomar (ku), serokdewlet (ku) Kyrgyz: президент (ky) (prezident) Lao: ປະທານາທິບໍດີ (pa thā nā thi bǭ dī) Latin: praesidēns m or f Latvian: prezidents m, prezidente f Lithuanian: prezidentas (lt) m, prezidentė (lt) f Luxembourgish: President m Macedonian: претсе́дател (mk) m (pretsédatel), претседа́телка f (pretsedátelka) Malay: presiden (ms) Malayalam: രാഷ്ട്രപതി (ml) (rāṣṭrapati) Maltese: president m Manchu: ᠪᡝᠯᡳᡳᡥᡳᡨ᠋ᡳᠶᠠᠨᡩ᠋ᡝ᠋ (be lii hi tiyan de) Manx: eaghtyrane m Maori: perehitini Marathi: राष्ट्राध्यक्ष m (rāṣṭrādhyakṣa), राष्ट्रपती (rāṣṭraptī) Mongolian: Cyrillic: ерөнхийлөгч (mn) (jörönxiilögč) Mongolian: ᠶᠡᠷᠦᠩᠬᠡᠶᠢᠯᠡᠭᠴᠢ (yerüngkeyileɣči) Moore: perzidã Navajo: naatʼáanii, alą́ąjįʼ dahsidáhígíí Nepali: राष्ट्रपति (ne) (rāṣṭrapati) Norman: président m Norwegian: Bokmål: president (no) m Nynorsk: president m Occitan: president (oc) m Odia: ରାଷ୍ଟ୍ରପତି (or) (rāṣṭrapati) Ottoman Turkish: جمهورباش (jumhurbash), باش (bash, literally “head”), رئیس (räyis) Pannonian Rusyn: предсидатель m (predsidatelʹ), предсидателька f (predsidatelʹka) Pashto: ولسمشر (ps) m (wolǝsmǝšǝr), اولسمشر m (ulǝsmǝšr), صدر (ps) m (sadǝr), ریيس m (rayis) Persian: Iranian Persian: رَئیس‌جُمْهور (ra'is-jomhur), رَئیس (ra'is), پِرِزیدِنْت (perezident) Polish: prezydent (pl) m, prezydentka (pl) f (the feminine form is uncommon) Portuguese: presidente (pt) m or f, presidenta (pt) f Punjabi: ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ (rāśṭaraptī) Romanian: președinte (ro) m or f, președintă (ro) f Russian: президе́нт (ru) m (prezidént) (male or female), глава́ госуда́рства (ru) m or f (glavá gosudárstva, literally “head of state”) (male or female) Saisiyat: 'ayporong Sardinian: presidente Scots: preses Scottish Gaelic: ceann-suidhe m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: пре́дсједнӣк m (Ijekavian), пре́дсједница f (Ijekavian); пре́дседнӣк m (Ekavian), пре́дседница f (Ekavian) Roman: prédsjednīk (sh) m (Ijekavian), prédsjednica (sh) f (Ijekavian); prédsednīk m (Ekavian), prédsednica f (Ekavian) Sinhalese: ජනාධිපති (si) (janādhipati) Slovak: prezident (sk) m, prezidentka f Slovene: predsednik (sl) m, predsednica f Somali: madaxweyne Spanish: presidente (es) m or f, presidenta (es) f Swahili: rais (sw) class ma Swedish: president (sv) c Tagalog: pangulo, presidente (tl) Tajik: президент (tg) (prezident), раис (rayis), раисҷумҳур (rayisjumhur) Tamil: ஜனாதிபதி (ta) (jaṉātipati), குடியரசுத் தலைவர் (ta) (kuṭiyaracut talaivar) Tatar: президент (prezident), рәис (tt) (räis) Telugu: అధ్యక్షుడు (te) (adhyakṣuḍu), దేశాధ్యక్షుడు (dēśādhyakṣuḍu) Thai: ประธานาธิบดี (th) (bprà-taa-naa-típ-bɔɔ-dii) Tibetan: སྲིད་འཛིན (srid 'dzin, literally “dominion-holder”) Tigrinya: ፕረሲደንት (pəräsidänt), ፕረዚደንት (pəräzidänt) Turkish: cumhurbaşkanı (tr), reisicumhur (tr), cumhur reisi (tr) Turkmen: prezident Udmurt: азьмурт (aźmurt) Ukrainian: президе́нт (uk) m (prezydént), президе́нтка f (prezydéntka) Urdu: صَدْر m (sadr), صَدْرِ مَمْلَکَت m (sadr-i mamlakat) Uyghur: پرېزىدېنت (prëzidënt) Uzbek: prezident (uz) Vietnamese: tổng thống (vi) (of a capitalist state), chủ tịch (vi) (of a socialist state) Walloon: prezidint (wa) m, prezidinte f Welsh: arlywydd m White Hmong: thawj saib (of a capitalist state), tswv rooj (of a socialist state) Yakut: бэрэсидьиэн (beresijien) Yiddish: פּרעזידענט m (prezident) Yoruba: Ààrẹ Zhuang: cungjdungj

the primary leader of a corporation

Asturian: presidente m Azerbaijani: rəis Breton: prezidant (br) m, prezidantez (br) f, kadoriad m Bulgarian: президе́нт m (prezidént), президе́нтка f (prezidéntka) Burmese: ဥက္ကဋ္ဌ (my) (ukkathta.) Chinese: Mandarin: 總裁 / 总裁 (zh) (zǒngcái), 主席 (zh) (zhǔxí), 會長 / 会长 (zh) (huìzhǎng) (club, committee, etc.) Esperanto: prezidanto, virprezidanto (male) (also vira prezidanto), prezidantino (female) Finnish: pääjohtaja (fi), hallituksen puheenjohtaja (fi) (chairman) French: président (fr) m, présidente (fr) f Greek: πρόεδρος (el) m or f (próedros) Hebrew: נָשִׂיא (he) m (nasí) Hindi: सदर (hi) m (sadar), अध्यक्ष (hi) m (adhyakṣ), अधिपति (hi) m (adhipti) Hungarian: elnök (hu) Icelandic: forstjóri (is) m Ido: prezidanto (io), prezidantulo (male), prezidantino (female) Italian: dirigente (it) m Japanese: 社長 (ja) (しゃちょう, shachō) Khmer: ប្រធាន (km) (prɑthiən) Korean: 회장(會長) (ko) (hoejang), 사장(社長) (ko) (sajang) Lao: ປະທານ (pa thān) Marathi: अध्यक्ष m (adhyakṣa) Moore: perzidã Pannonian Rusyn: предсидатель m (predsidatelʹ), предсидателька f (predsidatelʹka) Persian: Dari: رَئِیس (ra'īs) Iranian Persian: رَئیس (ra'is) Polish: prezes (pl) m, przewodniczący (pl) m, dyrektor (pl) m, rektor (pl) m Portuguese: presidente (pt) m or f Romanian: președinte (ro) m Russian: президе́нт (ru) m (prezidént), генера́льный дире́ктор (ru) m (generálʹnyj diréktor) Scottish Gaelic: ceann-suidhe m Slovak: prezident (sk), prezidentka Spanish: presidente (es) m, presidente director m Swahili: rais (sw) Swedish: styrelseordförande (sv) c Tajik: раис (rayis) Thai: ประธาน (th) (bprà-taan) Tibetan: གཙོ་འཛིན (gtso 'dzin) Turkish: başkan (tr) Urdu: صَدْر m (sadr), رَئِیس m (raīs) Vietnamese: chủ tịch (vi), chủ tịch hội đồng quản trị Walloon: prezidint (wa) m, prezidinte f White Hmong: thawj saib, tswv rooj

a person presiding over a meeting, chair, presiding officer, presider

Azerbaijani: sədr Belarusian: старшыня́ m (staršynjá) Breton: kadoriad m, prezidant (br) m, prezidantez (br) f Bulgarian: председа́тел (bg) m (predsedátel), председа́телка f (predsedátelka) Chinese: Mandarin: 主席 (zh) (zhǔxí), 議長 / 议长 (zh) (yìzhǎng) Cornish: lewydh m, lewydhes f Esperanto: prezidanto Finnish: puheenjohtaja (fi) Georgian: თავმჯდომარე (tavmǯdomare) German: Vorsitzender (de) m, Vorsitzende (de) f, Vorsitzer m, Vorsitzerin f Greek: Ancient: προστάτης m (prostátēs) Hindi: सभापति (hi) m (sabhāpti), अध्यक्ष (hi) m (adhyakṣ) Hungarian: elnök (hu) Japanese: 議長 (ja) (ぎちょう, gichō) Korean: 의장(議長) (ko) (uijang) Latin: praepositus Macedonian: претседател (mk) m (pretsedatel), претседателка f (pretsedatelka) Malayalam: അദ്ധ്യക്ഷൻ (addhyakṣaṉ) Pannonian Rusyn: предсидатель m (predsidatelʹ), предсидателька f (predsidatelʹka) Persian: Iranian Persian: رَئیسِ جَلَسِه (ra'is-e jalase) Russian: председа́тель (ru) m (predsedátelʹ), председа́тельница (ru) f (predsedátelʹnica) Swedish: ordförande (sv) Tibetan: གཙོ་འཛིན (gtso 'dzin) Ukrainian: голова́ m (holová) Urdu: مِیرِ مَجْلِس m (mīr-i majlis) Walloon: prezidint (wa) m, prezidinte f Welsh: llywydd m White Hmong: thawj saib, tswv rooj

Adjective

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president (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Occupying the first rank or chief place; having the highest authority; presiding.
   • 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:His angels president / In every province.

Verb

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president (third-person singular simple present presidents, present participle presidenting, simple past and past participle presidented)

1. To act as president; to do presidential duties.

References

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• “president”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “president”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Albanian

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Pronunciation

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• IPA(key): /prɛsidˈɛnt/

Noun

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presidént m (plural presidentë, definite presidenti, definite plural presidentët)

1. president

Declension

[edit] Declension of president

singular		plural
indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	president	presidenti	presidentë	presidentët
accusative		presidentin
dative	presidenti	presidentit	presidentëve	presidentëve
ablative			presidentësh

Further reading

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• FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎[4], 1980
• “president”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006

Catalan

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Catalan Wikipedia has an article on:presidentWikipedia ca

Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin praesidēns, prasedientem (“presiding over; president, leader”).

Pronunciation

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• IPA(key): (Central) [pɾə.ziˈðen]
• IPA(key): (Balearic) [pɾə.ziˈðent]
• IPA(key): (Valencia) [pɾe.ziˈðent]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

Noun

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president m (plural presidents)

1. president

Derived terms

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• vicepresident

Related terms

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• presidència
• presidencial
• presidir

Descendants

[edit]

• → Spanish: president

Further reading

[edit]

• “president”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “president”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “president” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “president” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Czech

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Czech Wikipedia has an article on:presidentWikipedia cs

Pronunciation

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• IPA(key): [ˈprɛsɪdɛnt]

Noun

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president m anim

1. alternative spelling of prezident

Declension

[edit] Declension of president (hard masculine animate)

singular	plural
nominative	president	presidenti
genitive	presidenta	presidentů
dative	presidentovi, presidentu	presidentům
accusative	presidenta	presidenty
vocative	presidente	presidenti
locative	presidentovi, presidentu	presidentech
instrumental	presidentem	presidenty

Dutch

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Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:presidentWikipedia nl

Pronunciation

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• IPA(key): /preː.ziˈdɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pre‧si‧dent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

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president m (plural presidenten, diminutive presidentje n)

1. president

Derived terms

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• vicepresident

Descendants

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• Afrikaans: president
• → Caribbean Javanese: présidhèn
• → Indonesian: presiden
• → Papiamentu: presidènt

Ladin

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Alternative forms

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• presidënt

Noun

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president m (plural presidenc)

1. president

Middle French

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Noun

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president m (plural presidens)

1. president (leader of an organization)

Norwegian Bokmål

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Norwegian Bokmål Wikipedia has an article on:presidentWikipedia nb

Etymology

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From Latin praesidens.

Pronunciation

[edit]

• Hyphenation: pre‧si‧dent

Noun

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president m (definite singular presidenten, indefinite plural presidenter, definite plural presidentene)

1. a president

Derived terms

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• presidentvalg

References

[edit]

• “president” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:presidentWikipedia nn

Etymology

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From Latin praesidens.

Noun

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president m (definite singular presidenten, indefinite plural presidentar, definite plural presidentane)

1. a president

References

[edit]

• “president” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Occitan

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Pronunciation

[edit]

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Noun

[edit]

president m (plural presidents)

1. president

Spanish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Catalan president. Doublet of presidente.

Pronunciation

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• IPA(key): /pɾesiˈden(d)/ [pɾe.siˈð̞ẽn(ð̞)]
• Rhymes: -en(d)
• Syllabification: pre‧si‧dent

Noun

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president m (plural presidents)

1. president of Catalonia

Swedish

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Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:presidentWikipedia sv

Alternative forms

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• præsident (obsolete typography)

Pronunciation

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This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

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president c

1. a chairman, presiding member of an assembly, e.g. a court of law
2. a president, head of state in a republic

Declension

[edit] Declension of president

nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	president	presidents
	definite	presidenten	presidentens
plural	indefinite	presidenter	presidenters
	definite	presidenterna	presidenternas

Related terms

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• hovrättspresident
• presidentbostad
• presidentföredragning
• presidenthustru
• presidentkampanj
• presidentkandidat
• presidentmakt
• presidentpalats
• presidentperiod
• presidentpost
• presidentskap
• presidentskifte
• presidentstyre
• presidentur
• presidentval
• presidentämbete
• presidiera
• vicepresident

References

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• president in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)