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Synonyms

columnist

American  
[kol-uhm-nist, -uh-mist] / ˈkɒl əm nɪst, -ə mɪst /

noun

  1. the writer or editor of a newspaper or magazine column.

columnist British  
/ -əmnɪst, ˈkɒləmɪst /

noun

  1. a journalist who writes a regular feature in a newspaper

    a gossip columnist
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of columnist

An Americanism dating back to 1915–20; column + -ist

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.

"Nowhere else in the world is like this," wrote Toronto-based columnist Chris Selley in the National Post last week.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

Times columnist Patt Morrison, Smoglandia traces the rise, impact, and retreat of the city’s most insidious pollution.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

Intelligent Investor columnist Jason Zweig is pretty sure how it will affect investors, though.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

This new album "feels like a love letter to their home country," said Jeff Benjamin, Billboard's K-pop columnist, told AFP.

From Barron's • Mar. 20, 2026

A tearful woman told columnist Teresa Dean, “The good-by is as sad as any I have known in all the years that I have lived.”

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

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.