- 1 a person who has been chosen to speak or vote for somebody else or on behalf of a group a representative of the UN our elected representatives in government a union representative The committee includes representatives from industry. Wordfinderunionballot, closed shop, collective bargaining, industrial action, labour, picket, protest, representative, strike, union Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivechief, leading, main, … verb + representativeappoint, appoint somebody (as), choose (somebody as), … representative + verbattend something, vote representative + nounbody prepositionrepresentative for, representative from, representative of, … See full entry See related entries: Business people
- 2 (informal rep) a person who works for a company and travels around selling its products a sales representative She's our representative in France. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivechief, leading, main, … verb + representativeappoint, appoint somebody (as), choose (somebody as), … representative + verbattend something, vote representative + nounbody prepositionrepresentative for, representative from, representative of, … See full entry See related entries: Business people
- 3 a person chosen to take the place of somebody else He was the Queen's representative at the ceremony. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivechief, leading, main, … verb + representativeappoint, appoint somebody (as), choose (somebody as), … representative + verbattend something, vote representative + nounbody prepositionrepresentative for, representative from, representative of, … See full entry
- 4 a person who is typical of a particular group The singer is regarded as a representative of the youth of her generation.
- 5Representative (abbreviation Rep.) (in the US) a member of the House of Representatives, the Lower House of Congress; a member of the House of Representatives in the lower house of a state parliament Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French representatif, -ive or medieval Latin repraesentativus, from the verb repraesentare ‘exhibit’, from re- (expressing intensive force) + praesentare ‘to present’.Extra examples I was the sole representative of the committee. Management are obliged to consult with union representatives about changes to conditions. The association is sending representatives to the conference. The country has a new supreme representative body. The negotiations were attended by representatives of several states. They have recalled their representatives from the negotiations. a nursing representative on the infection control committee a panel of media representatives a representative for international shipping companies his success as a full-time financial representative representatives from citizens’ groups representatives to a conference the Algerian permanent representative at the UN the UN special representative for Cyprus He was the Queen’s representative at the ceremony. He works as a sales representative for an insurance company. I was voted student representative for my class. Our elected representatives in government should be doing something about this. She’s our representative in France.
noun jump to other results
BrE BrE//ˌreprɪˈzentətɪv//; NAmE NAmE//ˌreprɪˈzentətɪv//
representative (of somebody/something) Business peopleCheck pronunciation: representative
