offizielle

Offizielle is a German adjective meaning “official” or “sanctioned by an authority.” It describes statements, documents, positions, or entities that are issued or approved by an institution such as a government, company, or organization.

As an attributive adjective it inflects with the gender, number, and case of the noun it modifies. Examples: der offizielle Vertrag (masculine, nominative singular); die offizielle Stellungnahme (feminine); das offizielle Dokument (neuter). In the plural: die offiziellen Dokumente. With an indefinite article or no article: ein offizielles Dokument; offizielle Dokumente (plural, no article). The adverbial form is offiziell, as in Es ist offiziell bestätigt.

Offizielle is commonly used in political, administrative, or organizational contexts and in media discourse. It can pair with nouns such as Ankündigung, Erklärung, Verlautbarung, Dokument, Stellungnahme to denote an authority-approved artifact. It is distinct from inoffiziell, which means informal or unofficial, and from offizielle Aussagen or Dokumente used in a neutral, factual sense.

Etymology: the adjective derives from Latin officialis via Old French officiel and then into German, with the standard German form выoffizielle reflecting regular inflection patterns. The related adverb form is offiziell, used without inflection to modify verbs or clauses.

See also: offiziell, inoffiziell, offizieller Gebrauch, offizielle Dokumente.