Ăd'min-is-trā'tion, n.

n. [Fr. administration, Lat. administratio.] 1. The act of administering; government of public affairs; the conducting of any office or employment; direction; management. The energy of the Protector’s administration in no wise relaxed. Macaulay. 2. The executive part of government; the persons collectively who are intrusted with the execution of laws and the superintendence of public affairs; the chief magistrate and his cabinet or council; or the council alone, as in Great Britain. “A mild and popular administration.” Macaulay. The administration has been opposed in parliament. Johnson.

3. Dispensation; distribution; exhibition; as, the administration of justice, of the sacrament, or of grace.
4. (Law.) (a.) The management and disposal, under legal authority, of the estate of an intestate, or of a testator having no competent executor. (b.) The management of an estate of a deceased person by an executor, the strictly corresponding term execution not being in use. Williams. Burrell.

Administration with the will annexed, administration, granted where the testator has appointed no executor, or where his appointment of an executor for any cause has failed, as by death, incompetency, refusal to act, &c. Syn.—Conduct; management; direction; regulation; execution; dispensation; distribution.