secretary

American  

[sek-ri-ter-ee] / ˈsɛk rɪˌtɛr i /

noun

• secretaries
  plural

1. a person, usually an official, who is in charge of the records, correspondence, minutes of meetings, and related affairs of an organization, company, association, etc..

   the secretary of the Linguistic Society of America.

2. a person employed to handle correspondence and do routine work in a business office, usually involving taking dictation, typing, filing, and the like.

3. private secretary.

4. (often initial capital letter) an officer of state charged with the superintendence and management of a particular department of government, as a member of the president's cabinet in the U.S..

   Secretary of the Treasury.

5. Also called diplomatic secretary. a diplomatic official of an embassy or legation who ranks below a counselor and is usually assigned as first secretary, second secretary, or third secretary.

6. a piece of furniture for use as a writing desk.

7. Also called secretary bookcase. a desk with bookshelves on top of it.

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secretary British  

/ ˈsɛkrətrɪ, -ərɪ /

noun

1. a person who handles correspondence, keeps records, and does general clerical work for an individual, organization, etc

2. the official manager of the day-to-day business of a society or board

3. (in Britain) a senior civil servant who assists a government minister

4. (in the US and New Zealand) the head of a government administrative department

5. (in Britain) See secretary of state

6. (in Australia) the head of a public service department

7. diplomacy the assistant to an ambassador or diplomatic minister of certain countries

8. another name for secretaire

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• secretaryship
  noun
• subsecretary
  noun
• subsecretaryship
  noun
• undersecretaryship
  noun
• secretarial
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• secretaries
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of secretary

1350–1400; Middle English secretarie one trusted with private or secret matters; confidant < Medieval Latin sēcrētārius < Latin sēcrēt ( um ) secret (noun) + -ārius -ary

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Explanation

If you handle the correspondence and clerical work for your boss or your company, you are a secretary. One of your duties as a secretary is to open the mail. Today, the preferred term for the kind of secretary who works in an office is administrative assistant. The noun secretary can also refer to the person who is in charge of an administrative department in the government, like the Secretary of Defense. A secretary can also be a piece of furniture — specifically, a type of writing desk.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

secretary secretaries

On Wednesday, the secretary of state told the House of Commons there had to be "political accountability for finances", and that he wanted to be able to settle the issue with the executive.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

The Penn administration has none of the idealism or conscience that drove Martin Sheen’s Jed Bartlet, whose vision Janney’s press secretary, C.J.

From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2026

But it was a Pyrrhic victory, for the court also ruled that the sole authority to determine apportionment belonged to the federal government, via the secretary of the Interior.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

The treasury secretary also highlighted reasons why any restructuring of the mortgage giants isn’t imminent, and the market may have overreacted to his comments.

From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026

Penelope was sorry to have to be privy to this conversation, but alas, the idea that she could be used as a personal secretary had taken root in Lady Constance’s mind.

From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood

But there were also 961,610 “medical secretaries and administrative assistants.”

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2026

Unlike Ms. Leavitt, and many other White House press secretaries, Ms. Zacharia has a law degree.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

To do that work, the state plans to add as many as four deputy attorneys general, a legal analyst and three legal secretaries, according to a legislative analyst’s report.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

At the Pentagon, President Trump attended a commemoration alongside cabinet secretaries and Condoleezza Rice, who was US secretary of state on 9/11.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

You’d think she was the governor and not the principal of Roosevelt High, after how many messages I left and secretaries I had to talk to.

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti

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Related Words

• assistant
• clerk
• executive secretary

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