- a variation of under secretary.
undersecretary
Britishnoun
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any of various senior civil servants in certain government departments
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short for undersecretary of state: any of various high officials subordinate only to the minister in charge of a department
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(in the US) a high government official subordinate only to the secretary in charge of a department
Other Word Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He served as undersecretary of state for national security affairs, 1982-86 and chairman of the Defense Science Board, 2001-09.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
Pentagon Papers: New court documents show in detail the uneasy back-and-forth between Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Emil Michael, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
The documents show in detail the uneasy back-and-forth between Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei and Emil Michael, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Mick Mulroy, a former assistant undersecretary of defence for the Middle East at the Pentagon, said any link between pausing Project Freedom and a possible peace deal remains murky.
From BBC ● May 6, 2026
“How many times must I tell you not to bite off more than you can chew?” snapped the undersecretary, patting the distressed earl on the back.
From "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
