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Official vs Incumbent - What's the difference?

official | incumbent |

As adjectives the difference between official and incumbent

is that official is of or pertaining to an office or public trust while incumbent is imposed on someone as an obligation, especially due to one's office.

As nouns the difference between official and incumbent

is that official is an office holder invested with powers and authorities while incumbent is the current holder of an office, such as ecclesiastical benefice or an elected office.

official

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Of or pertaining to an office or public trust.
  • official duties
  • Derived from the proper office or officer, or from the proper authority; made or communicated by virtue of authority
  • an official statement or report
  • Approved by authority; authorized.
  • sanctioned by the pharmacopoeia; appointed to be used in medicine; officinal
  • an official drug or preparation
  • Discharging an office or function.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
  • the stomach and other parts official unto nutrition
  • Relating to an office; especially, to a subordinate executive officer or attendant.
  • Relating to an ecclesiastical judge appointed by a bishop, chapter, archdeacon, etc., with charge of the spiritual jurisdiction.
  • Antonyms

    * unofficial

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An office holder invested with powers and authorities.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-03-15, volume=410, issue=8878, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Turn it off , passage=If the takeover is approved, Comcast would control 20 of the top 25 cable markets, […]. Antitrust officials will need to consider Comcast’s status as a monopsony (a buyer with disproportionate power), when it comes to negotiations with programmers, whose channels it pays to carry.}}
  • A person responsible for applying the rules of a game or sport in a competition.
  • Hyponyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * fourth official

    Statistics

    *

    incumbent

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Imposed on someone as an obligation, especially due to one's office.
  • Proper behavior is incumbent on all holders of positions of trust.
  • * Sprat
  • All men, truly zealous, will perform those good works that are incumbent on all Christians.
  • Lying; resting; reclining; recumbent.
  • * Sir H. Wotton
  • two incumbent figures, gracefully leaning upon it
  • * Addison
  • to move the incumbent load they try
  • (botany, geology) Resting on something else; in botany, said of anthers when lying on the inner side of the filament, or of cotyledons when the radicle lies against the back of one of them.
  • (Gray)
  • (zoology) Bent downwards so that the ends touch, or rest on, something else.
  • the incumbent toe of a bird
  • Being the current holder of an office or a title.
  • If the incumbent senator dies, he is replaced by a person appointed by the governor.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The current holder of an office, such as ecclesiastical benefice or an elected office.
  • *2012 , The Economist, 06 Oct 2012 issue, The first presidential debate: Back in the centre, back in the game
  • *:Mr Obama’s problems were partly structural. An incumbent' must defend the realities and compromises of government, while a challenger is freer to promise the earth, details to follow. Mr Obama’s odd solution was to play both ' incumbent and challenger, jumping from a defence of his record to indignation at such ills as over-crowded classrooms and tax breaks for big oil companies.
  • (business) A holder of a position as supplier to a market or market segment that allows the holder to earn above-normal profits.
  • *2012 , , Sep 29th 2012 issue, Schumpeter: Fixing the capitalist machine
  • *:American capitalism is becoming like its European cousin: established firms with the scale and scope to deal with a growing thicket of regulations are doing well, but new companies are withering on the vine or selling themselves to incumbents .
  • See also

    * ("incumbent" on Wikipedia) ----