semi-officialadj.
Partly official; depending to some extent upon official authority or knowledge.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > [adjective] > proceeding from authority > partly
semi-official1806
society > authority > office > [adjective] > official or derived from persons in office > partly
semi-official1806
1806 Deb. Congr. U.S. 6 Mar. (1852) 597 Must we have semi-official authority, even for a title-page?
1859 Habits Good Society 292 Unless the dinner was a semi-official one.
1868 M. E. Grant Duff Polit. Surv. 2 The semi-official and opposition press has done its best to increase difficulties which required no increasing.
1897 Westm. Gaz. 23 Feb. 5/1 The Central News asserts that there is semi-official reason for stating that [etc.].
1901 Scotsman 8 Mar. 6/1 The semi-official ‘North German Gazette’.
Derivatives
ˌsemi-oˈfficially adv. in a semi-official manner.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > [adverb] > officially > partly
semi-officially1859
1859 J. Lang Wanderings in India 191 That a civilian in power had a quarrel with the Commissary-General, and had represented, semi-officially, that great frauds had been committed.
1861 M. Pattison in Westm. Rev. Apr. 408 The Bishop of Basle..writes semi-officially to the King, a letter of excuse.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1806