Meaning & use
preside over
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Meanings
verbtransitiveformal
To be the person in charge of a formal meeting, trial or ceremony and direct how it runs.
Grammar: Always followed by over and an object: she presided over the hearing.
Patterns
- preside over something
Judge Alvarez will preside over the trial, which begins on Monday.
The chairman presided over the annual meeting and kept speeches to five minutes.
Who is presiding over the committee while the director is away?
verbtransitiveformal
To hold a position of leadership during a particular period, often when major events or changes take place.
Grammar: The object is often a period or event: she presided over a decade of growth.
Patterns
- preside over something
The mayor presided over a major rebuilding of the harbor.
He presided over the company during its steepest decline, and many blamed him for it.
Few leaders have presided over such a long stretch of peace.
Word forms
| third person singular | presides over |
|---|---|
| past tense | presided over |
| past participle | presided over |
| -ing form | presiding over |
Common combinations
- preside over a meeting
- The vice president will preside over the meeting in her absence.
- preside over a trial
- Only one judge may preside over a trial of this kind.
- preside over a ceremony
- A senior priest presided over the ceremony.
- preside over a decline
- The manager presided over a steady decline in sales.
- preside over the board
- She presided over the board for twelve years.
Synonyms and how they differ
- chair
- It is the everyday word for leading a meeting and sounds less ceremonial than preside over.
- oversee
- It means to supervise work and watch how it goes, rather than formally lead an event.
- run
- It is informal and suggests day-to-day management rather than formal authority.
- head
- It stresses being at the top of an organization, not directing a particular session.
Opposites
Word family
- president noun
- the head of a country, company or organization
- presidency noun
- the office or term of a president
- presiding adjective
- in charge of a formal proceeding: the presiding judge
- presidential adjective
- relating to a president
Commonly confused: preside over or reside in?
preside over vs reside in
Reside in means to live in a place, while preside over means to lead something; the spelling differs by one letter.
Practice
Judge Morales will ___ the case, which is due to start next week.
Choose one answer.
A judge in charge of a hearing is said to preside over it. Reside means live, and in and over must follow their own verbs.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “preside over”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.