home office
20
3.0
- noun
- /hoʊm ˈɔfɪs/
- Formal
:
sede central
- Our home office handles all administrative tasks for the branch offices across the country.
Examples
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You've reached the home office of Ray Lester.
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If you do, I could call the home office.
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We are in my Home Office in my house.
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The only problem is I have them at my home office.
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This is our home office.
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I sometimes feel like I spend so much time working alone in my home office.
Academic text (2011) -
Coverage election forms must be completed and returned to the home office before coverage goes into effect.
Blog text (7) -
According to this survey, there are currently about 37 million home office households in the United States.
Blog text (10) -
Most of them work from their home offices and come to campus only under duress.
Fiction book (2000) -
If you can't take the call at your home office, at least sequester yourself in your car or a quiet corner.
Academic text (2009)
Synonyms
407
3.0
The main office where a company or group makes important decisions
36
3.4
The main office where an organization's leaders work and give orders
14
3.4
The main office where a company or group does its work
12
1.5
A central building where managers run an organization
7
3.5
Main office where leaders of a company or organization work and make decisions
How Central
Surface Forms
Morphology
A learner who knows 'home' and 'office' can form a plausible meaning (an office related to home, e.g. an office in one's house), so there is some compositional information. However, the target sense 'main administrative centre / headquarters' requires a metaphorical reading of 'home' as 'base' or 'centre' rather than the concrete 'house', which is not the most immediate interpretation for B1 learners. Because the intended meaning is partially predictable but also ambiguous and metaphorical, this item is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
Home office may come from the simple idea that a company has a 'home', its main place, and office is where people work. So home office means the 'main office' or 'headquarters' where the company's leaders do their work.