Word.ws English Dictionary

starosta

/ˈstaɹɒstə/

starosta noun: in Russia, the head man of a village community.

Noun

starosta (plural starostas or starosty or starosti)

  1. In Russia, the head man of a village community.
    • Beſides theſe two Gentlemen, and Secretaries that order the whole Citie, there are Staruſts or Aldermen for euerie ſeuerall companie. The Alderman hath his Sotskey or Conſtable, and the Conſtable hath certeine Decetskeis or Decurions vnder him, which haue the ouerſight of ten houſholds a peece...1591, Giles Fletcher, “Of the gouernment of their Prouinces and Shires.” (chapter 10), in Of the Ruſſe Common Wealth. Or, Maner of Gouernement by the Ruſſe Emperour, (commonly called the Emperour of...
    • One family, whose chief…performs the functions of staroste, or magistrate of the village.1796, Morse, Amer. Geog., volume II, page 84
  2. In the former kingdom of Poland, a noble holding a castle and domain bestowed by the Crown.
    • Major-General Bokumbs…has been lately killed by a Peasant, who was hired to commit the murther by a Staroste.1670, Lond. Gaz., № 504/1
    • His father was the starost of Korytnik.1827, Bowring, Specim. Polish Poets, page 137

Examples of starosta in a sentence

  • Any person arriving in a town or village, must produce his [passport] to the starosta.1810, E. D. Clarke, Trav. Russia, published 1839, page 37/1:
  • At Nijni Novgorod…the starosta, or chief of the village artel, comes to buy the supply of material.1901 April 5th, Scotsman, page 7/2:

Synonyms of starosta

Forms of starosta

pluralstarostas
pluralstarosty
pluralstarosti
alternative formstarust
alternative formstaroste
alternative formstahrost
alternative formstarost

Origin of starosta

From Russian ста́роста (stárosta) and Polish starosta, both ultimately from Proto-Slavic *starosta, from *starostь (“old age”) + *-a (suffix forming agent nouns).

Questions about starosta

What does starosta mean?
Starosta means in Russia, the head man of a village community.
How do you use starosta in a sentence?
Any person arriving in a town or village, must produce his [passport] to the starosta.
What part of speech is starosta?
Starosta is a noun.
How do you pronounce starosta?
Starosta is pronounced /ˈstaɹɒstə/.
What is the plural of starosta?
The plural of starosta is starostas.

Words near starosta in the dictionary

  1. Staroobriadtsi
  2. Staroselye
  3. Starosillia
  4. starosporine
  5. starost
  6. starosta
  7. starostas
  8. starosti
  9. starosties
  10. Starostin
  11. Starostin Cape

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: starosta (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-starosta.wav.

Cite this entry: “starosta.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/starosta. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.