officialdom

/əˈfɪ.ʃəl.dəm/

//əˈfɪ.ʃəl.dəm// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"officialdom" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“officialdom” is uncommon English (frequency #68,496 among 15,494 “O” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#68,496
frequency rank, English
15,494
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The people elected to government or employed in the civil service.

Key facts for officialdom
PropertyValue
Headwordofficialdom
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/əˈfɪ.ʃəl.dəm/
Letters11
Frequency rank#68,496
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “officialdom” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). officialdom lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

officialdom is uncommon English at frequency #68,496 among 15,494 “O” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /əˈfɪ.ʃəl.dəm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for officialdom, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From official + -dom. The correct English form is officialdom, spelled O-F-F-I-C-I-A-L-D-O-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    The people elected to government or employed in the civil service.
  2. 2
    The state of being official

Etymology

From official + -dom.

This word in other languages

fonctionnariat(Français)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "officialdom"?
"officialdom" is spelled O-F-F-I-C-I-A-L-D-O-M. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈfɪ.ʃəl.dəm/.
What does "officialdom" mean?
As a noun, "officialdom" means: The people elected to government or employed in the civil service.
How do you pronounce "officialdom"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "officialdom" is /əˈfɪ.ʃəl.dəm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "officialdom"?
From official + -dom. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “officialdom”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is O-F-F-I-C-I-A-L-D-O-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /əˈfɪ.ʃəl.dəm/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list