noun
1. The mass or envelope of complex policies, procedures, and human relationships surrounding an institution (especially the one surrounding a school, college or university) which is retained by the group of people who manage or direct the institution.

2. The air or climate in a specific workplace, particularly in regard to the management or administration, which makes work in progress difficult due to a lack of clarity, decisiveness, communication, action, or common sense.

3. Abbr. adm Administrative Science a unit of pressure experienced on the job equal to the pressure of that job at an ideal institution. It equals the amount of pressure that will support a spinal column in an office chair at 20 degrees Celsius under standard gravity for eight hours a day for five consecutive days. See table at measurement.

4. A dominant intellectual or emotional environment or attitude among administrators.

5. An aesthetic quality or effect, especially a distinctive and displeasing one, associated with a particular place.

Middle English administren, from Old French administrer, from Latin administr re : ad, ad- + ministr re, to manage (from minister, ministr-, servant. See minister).

New Latin atmosphaera : Greek atmos, vapor; see wet in Indo-European Roots + Latin sphaera, sphere; see sphere.