secretariat

American  

[sek-ri-tair-ee-uht] / ˌsɛk rɪˈtɛər i ət /

Or secretariate

noun

• secretariats
  plural

1. the officials or office entrusted with administrative duties, maintaining records, and overseeing or performing secretarial duties, especially for an international organization.

   the secretariat of the United Nations.

2. a group or department of secretaries.

3. the place where a secretary transacts business, preserves records, etc.

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secretariat British  

/ ˌsɛkrɪˈtɛərɪət /

noun

1. 1. an office responsible for the secretarial, clerical, and administrative affairs of a legislative body, executive council, or international organization

   2. the staff of such an office

   3. the building or rooms in which such an office is housed

2. a body of secretaries

3. a secretary's place of work; office

4. the position of a secretary

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• secretariats
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of secretariat

1805–15; < French secrétariat < Medieval Latin sēcrētāriātus. See secretary, -ate ³

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

secretariat secretariats

Those included the salary of the chair, Sir Charles Haddon-Cave, its secretariat, lawyers and expert witnesses.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

In response to this crunch, the U.N. has implemented historically large spending cuts, eliminated 3,000 secretariat posts, and slashed peacekeeping expenditures.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026

Vincent Reinhart, chief economist at BNY Investments, a Fed veteran, and former secretariat of the FOMC, says the postpandemic inflation surge broke the public’s trust in the Fed in ways that data alone don’t capture.

From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026

Velasco, a millennial who came of age in the digital era, is among the youngest officials to head the secretariat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026

A group of streets formed a zone directed by a chief steward, who was in turn responsible to the secretariat of the local branch of the ANC.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

Massa is set to lead a vastly expanded economy ministry, in which the agriculture, production and trade secretariats will answer to him.

From Reuters ● Aug. 3, 2022

States in the northern region, home to the vast Amazon rainforest, are among those with the nation’s lowest vaccination rates, according to the confederation of state health secretariats.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 27, 2022

Meantime, stocks of sedatives and other medications used in intensive care ran out in three states, according to a late-June report from Brazil’s council of state health secretariats.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 8, 2020

We have commissions, tribunals and secretariats to fight racism.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 3, 2016

Consequently, they become so fine writers that the accounting-rooms are filled with them, as are also the secretariats, the courts, and the offices of private persons.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume 40 of 55 1690-1691 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century by Emma Helen Blair

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