What does headquarter mean?
Headquarter is a formal verb meaning to provide an organization with its headquarters or to serve as its headquarters. Its best-known use is in the phrase “headquartered in,” which identifies the place where a company, government body, charity, or other organization has its main base. For example, an organization may be headquartered in London, New York, or Geneva. The word can also describe an organization or unit that provides headquarters for another organization, though this use is less common. Although “headquarter” sounds like a noun because it ends in “-er,” it is primarily a verb; “headquarters” is the corresponding noun and is normally used for the place or administrative center of an organization. In everyday writing, people often use the participial form “headquartered” more frequently than the bare verb, especially when stating an organization’s location.
verbTo provide headquarters for an organization, especially by locating it in a particular place. It can also mean to serve as the headquarters of an organization.
- To provide or locate the headquarters of an organization.
- To serve as the headquarters of an organization.
"The international charity is headquartered in Geneva."
"The technology company is headquartered in California."
"A small regional office will headquarter the organization’s European operations."
One word can be a verb while its familiar companion is a noun: organizations are headquartered in a place, and that place is their headquarters.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does headquarter come from?
The compound is formed from “head” and “quarter,” with “quarter” ultimately related to Latin quartus, meaning “fourth.” Early uses of “headquarters” referred to the official quarters of a chief officer or the place where leaders were stationed. Over time, the word developed its modern organizational sense of a central administrative base, and the verb “headquarter” developed from that noun.
Related word forms
How headquarter is actually used
The verb is formal and especially common in business, government, and institutional contexts. The form “headquartered in” is much more frequent than the verb used independently, while the related noun is normally “headquarters.”
Easily confused with headquarter
Headquarter is a verb meaning to provide or serve as headquarters; headquarters is the noun naming the place where an organization is based.