Other forms: presidencies
A presidency is the office of a head of state, or the time somebody holds it. During his presidency, seek the presidency, the presidency of the council.
It covers both the job and the period, so a historian writes about the presidency of one person and a candidate runs for the presidency itself. It also names a rotating chair, as with the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
1nounpresidencyThe office of a head of state, or the time held.
“He promised to fight corruption at every level throughout his presidency.”
presidency is an office.
Medieval Latin praesidentia comes from praesidere, to sit before or preside — prae, before, plus sedere, to sit.
Latin
praesidēns — presiding over; president, leader
Old French
president
English
president
English, today
presidency
Built from
From Medieval Latin - praesidentia. by surface analysis, president + -cy. president comes from Old French president, from Latin praesidēns (“presiding over; president, leader”) (accusative: praesidentem). The Latin word is the substantivized present active participle of the verb praesideō (“preside over”). The verb is composed from prae (“before”) and sedeō (“sit”). The original meaning of the verb is 'to sit before' in the sense of presiding at a meeting. A secondary meaning of the verb is 'to command, to govern'. So praesidēns means 'the presiding one on a meeting' or 'governor, commander'.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA