directorate
/dɪˈɹɛktəɹət/noun
directorate is a noun meaning “An agency headed by a director, usually a subdivision of a major government department” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled D-I-R-E-C-T-O-R-A-T-E and has 4 syllables, and it appears 2.6 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of directorate is directorates.
What does directorate mean?
noun
- 1
An agency headed by a director, usually a subdivision of a major government department.
- 2
A body of directors.
Meronym: managing director
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce directorate?
- UK /dɪˈɹɛktəɹət/
- /daɪˈɹɛktəɹət/
Directorate has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-directorate.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of directorate
- directorates plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is directorate?
Directorate appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Directorate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense an agency headed by a director:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | direction |
| German | Direktorium |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does directorate come from?
From director + -ate.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).