letters of administration
n · noun
Simple meaning
Legal document naming someone to administer an estate when no executor has been named.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
lehterzuhvadmihnihstrayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlɛtɚˈzʌvædmɪnɪstˈɹeɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
n
Granted by a surrogate court or probate registry to appoint appropriate people to deal with a deceased person's estate where property will pass under intestacy rules or where there are no executors living (and willing and able to act) having been validly appointed under the deceased's will.
noun
Legal document naming someone to administer an estate when no executor has been named
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Granted by a surrogate court or probate registry to appoint appropriate people to deal with a deceased person's estate where property will pass under intestacy rules or where there are no executors living (and willing and able to act) having been validly appointed under the deceased's will.
Used this way, letters of administration is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.