département

plural départements

1. An administrative unit in various French-speaking countries, smaller than a région, similar to an English county.

   On the other hand, the political–territorial pattern has been maintained but also redirected at the départemental level by the transformation of former ministerial départemental directorates into inter-ministerial units, under the supervision of the prefects of the département.

   2016, Philippe Bezes, “Challenges to French Public Administration: Mapping the Vitality of Its Knowledge Sources”, in Robert Elgie, Emiliano Grossman, Amy G[ale] Mazur, editors, The Oxford Handbook of French Politics, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part III (Institutions), page 265