Organizational

How to spell organizational

14 letters · 6 syllables

How to pronounce organizational

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does organizational mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to the structure, arrangement, or running of an organization or group.

Organizational in a sentence

• The merger demanded a complete organizational overhaul of both companies.

• Poor organizational skills meant the project missed every deadline.

Where does organizational come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek organon, which literally meant a 'tool' or 'instrument', and by extension a part of the body that does a job. Latin took this in as organum, and through Old French and Medieval Latin it came to describe a structured, working whole, the sense behind both the musical 'organ' and a bodily 'organ'. From there the verb 'organize' grew, meaning to arrange parts into a functioning system, followed by the noun 'organization' for an arranged body or the act of arranging it. The adjective 'organizational' is the most recent layer, stacking the suffixes -ation and -al onto that base, and it became common in the language of business and administration. The long chain of endings (-ize, -ation, -al) is exactly the spelling trap: each piece is regular on its own, but writers often drop or scramble the middle syllables when stringing them together.

How the word is built

• organ (from Greek organon: tool, instrument)
• -ize (verb-forming suffix: to make into)
• -ation (noun of action)
• -al (adjective suffix: relating to)

British and American spelling

Organizational is the American spelling. British English spells it organisational.