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/mˌædʒɪstˈɪriəl/ Listen

adjective

Magisterial adj.

Of or pertaining to a master or magistrate, or one in authority; having the manner of a magister; official; commanding; authoritative. Hence: Overbearing; dictatorial; dogmatic. "When magisterial duties from his home Her father called." "We are not magisterial in opinions, nor, dictator-like, obtrude our notions on any man." "Pretenses go a great way with men that take fair words and magisterial looks for current payment."

(Alchem. & Old Chem.) Pertaining to, produced by, or of the nature of, magistery. See Magistery, 2.

Synonyms: Authoritative; stately; august; pompous; dignified; lofty; commanding; imperious; lordly; proud; haughty; domineering; despotic; dogmatical; arrogant. Magisterial, Dogmatical, Arrogant. One who is magisterial assumes the air of a master toward his pupils; one who is dogmatical lays down his positions in a tone of authority or dictation; one who is arrogant insults others by an undue assumption of superiority. Those who have long been teachers sometimes acquire, unconsciously, a manner which borders too much on the magisterial, and may be unjustly construed as dogmatical, or even arrogant.

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Etymology of 'Magisterial'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Magisterial" Quotes from Famous Books

... Shelley, who knew what he was talking about when poetry was the subject, has said it, and with a profundity of truth Whitman seems in a peculiar degree marked out for "legislation" of the kind referred to. His voice will one day be potential or magisterial wherever the English language is spoken—that is to say, in the four corners of the earth; and in his own American hemisphere, the uttermost avatars of democracy will confess him not more their announcer ...

— Poems By Walt Whitman • Walt Whitman

... this: "How may I be perfect?" and to be on trial was always disagreeable to him. He first gave the reply, "Keep the commandments;" and if the young man had been satisfied, and had gone away, it appears that Jesus would have been glad to be rid of him: for his tone is magisterial, decisive and final. This, I confess, suggests to me, that the aim of Jesus was not so much to enlighten the young man, as to stop his mouth, and keep up his own ostentation of omniscience. Had he desired ...

— Phases of Faith - Passages from the History of My Creed • Francis William Newman

... since the days of the grim Guiton; but these evidences of municipal splendour are interesting for the light they throw on French manners. Imagine the mayor of an English or an American town of twenty thousand inhabitants holding magisterial soirees in the town hall! The said grande salle, which is unchanged in form and in its larger features, is, I believe, the room in which the Rochelais debated as to whether they should shut themselves up, and decided in the ...

— A Little Tour in France • Henry James

... place, allowing her to stand deferentially at my side; for I esteemed it wise and right in her case to enforce strictly all forms ordinarily in use between master and pupil; the rather because I perceived that in proportion as my manner grew austere and magisterial, hers became easy and self-possessed—an odd contradiction, doubtless, to the ordinary effect in such cases; but ...

— The Professor • (AKA Charlotte Bronte) Currer Bell

... your mother, Mrs Dombey,' said Mr Dombey, with magisterial importance, 'what no doubt you know, namely, that Brighton is recommended for her health. Mr ...

— Dombey and Son • Charles Dickens

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