administration

administration ad‧min‧is‧tra‧tion [ədˌmɪnˈstreɪʆn] noun

1. [uncountable] COMMERCE the activities involved with managing and organizing the work of a company or organization:

• I want to spend my time on research and development rather than administration.

2. [uncountable] the part of a company or organization involved with managing and organizing its work:

• The job cuts will affect those in sales support and administration.

3. [countable usually singular] the government of a country at a particular time, especially in the United States:

• He said that the administration had created one million new jobs.

• The problem has been ignored by successive administrations.

4. [uncountable] LAW in Britain and some other countries, when a company in financial difficulty is reorganized by an outside specialist with the aim of continuing some of its activities so that it can avoid liquidation (= being broken up and sold):

• The company is currently in administration, but Mr Brown hopes that it will be possible to keep it going in some form.

• The parent companywent into administration in July with debts estimated at £50 million.

• The group should continue trading despite its financial problems, rather than be put into administration.

— see also bankruptcy, Chapter 11, liquidation, receivership

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administration UK US /ədˌmɪnɪˈstreɪʃ^ən/ noun

► [U] the activity of managing or dealing with a business activity: »

Administration of the scheme is costly in terms of time.

»

She studied business administration at New York University.

► [U] WORKPLACE ADMIN(Cf. ↑admin)

► [C] the people who manage and control a large organization: »

Some foreign postal administrations, including Britain's and France's, have embraced the concept.

»

Will medical school administrations and faculty be happy to adopt a large increase in class size?

► (also Administration) [C] GOVERNMENT the government of the United States or of some other countries: »

It seems like there's an effort to centralize authority in Washington more than there has been in prior administrations.

»

the Obama/Bush/Nixon Administration

► [U] UK LAW a situation in which an independent administrator takes control of a company that cannot pay its debts in order to try to improve the company's financial situation and keep it operating: »

The company has gone into administration, which was required if any money was to be returned to creditors.

»

His business empire continues to trade and is not in administration.

→ Compare LIQUIDATION(Cf. ↑liquidation), RECEIVERSHIP(Cf. ↑receivership)

→ See also BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION(Cf. ↑business administration), THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION(Cf. ↑the Federal Aviation Administration)