columnist
Americannoun
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columnists
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of columnist
Explanation
A columnist writes regularly for a newspaper or magazine, usually expressing opinions or commentary. A columnist might write an article endorsing a candidate for president one week, and a story about a terrible local fire the next week. If you get a job as a newspaper columnist, you'll be expected to publish on a regular basis, maybe once or twice a week. An advice columnist answers letters that ask for help with personal problems and dilemmas, and a political columnist comments on various current events and political figures. The word columnist comes from a newspaper column, which got that name from the "vertical division of a page" meaning.
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.
See Examples For:
“The badly written letter of Andrés López Beltrán doesn’t transmit indignation,” wrote Denise Dresser, a columnist and frequentSheinbaum administration critic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Or as Huffington Post columnist Kayla Chadwick writes: “I don’t know how to explain to you that you should care about other people.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen reminisced about working two jobs, living with roommates and eating ramen after college.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026
Our travel columnist Dawn Gilberton’s experience in Lisbon and relatively smooth sailing in Paris and Rome this month underscore the crapshoot travelers face under the European Union’s new automated border-control system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
When a female chess columnist asked him for an interview after lunch, he agreed; she shrieked joyfully, hugged Bobby, and kissed him on the cheek.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Many journalists were especially outraged because of the extreme dangers faced by Mexican reporters, editors, columnists and photographers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Sound advice for a struggling new parent: Slate’s advice columnists have heard it all over the years, so our parenting advice column has been bringing back some classics from the archives.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Navigating a temporary injury made our Retirement Rookies columnists realize that the quality of their “go-slow” years will depend on alternative transportation—from autonomous taxis to the bus to a walk around town.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Perhaps you’ve followed MarketWatch columnists Edd and Cynthia Staton, who moved to Cuenca, Ecuador, 15 years ago for the lower cost of living.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
“The consensus was that Seabiscuit should not have been started in the mud,” wrote Oscar Otis, echoing the words of many columnists.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
