Other forms: presided, presiding, presides
To preside is to be in charge of a meeting or an occasion. Preside over the meeting, preside at dinner, presided over the collapse.
It nearly always takes over, and the phrase presided over is often quietly damning, since it assigns responsibility for what happened without alleging any action. The Latin means to sit in front.
1verbpresideTo be in charge of a meeting or an occasion.
“The mayor will preside over the opening ceremony.”
preside is a leading.
Latin praesidere means to sit before, from prae, before, plus sedere, to sit.
Proto-Indo-European
*sed-
Latin
praesideo — preside
Old French
presider
English, today
preside
Built from
From Old French presider, from Latin praesideo (“preside”), from pre- (“before”) + sedeo (“to sit”). Displaced foresittan, which might have been a calque of the Latin.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA