editor

American  

[ed-i-ter] / ˈɛd ɪ tər /

noun

1. a person having managerial and sometimes policy-making responsibility related to the writing, compilation, and revision of content for a publishing firm or for a newspaper, magazine, or other publication.

   She was offered a managing editor position at a small press.

2. the supervisor or manager of a department of a newspaper, magazine, etc..

   the sports editor of a newspaper.

3. a person who edits, or selects and revises, material for publications, films, etc..

   a video editor;

   the editor of an online journal.

4. a device for viewing, cutting, and editing film or magnetic tape to make movies, audio recordings, etc.

5. Computers. a program used for writing and revising code, data, or text.

   an XML editor.

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editor British  

/ ˈɛdɪtə /

noun

1. a person who edits written material for publication

2. a person in overall charge of the editing and often the policy of a newspaper or periodical

3. a person in charge of one section of a newspaper or periodical

   the sports editor

4. films

   1. a person who makes a selection and arrangement of individual shots in order to construct the flowing sequence of images for a film

   2. a device for editing film, including a viewer and a splicer

5. television radio a person in overall control of a programme that consists of various items, such as a news or magazine style programme

6. a computer program that facilitates the deletion or insertion of data within information already stored in a computer

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• editorship
  noun

Etymology

Origin of editor

1640–50; < Medieval Latin, Late Latin: publisher; see edit, -tor

Explanation

Newspaper editors don't write the stories, but they come up with the story ideas, assign them to writers, read all of the drafts, and correct and change them to make them ready to be published. You can be an editor without working at a newspaper. Magazines and books are all worked on by editors. There are photo editors and film editors, who splice together the footage and determine a movie's pacing. Even if you just correct your friend's spelling mistakes, you're editing her work.

Example Sentences

Jonathan is the deputy corporate editor at The Wall Street Journal, helping manage a team of reporters and editors who cover industries ranging from autos and airlines to retailers, food makers and pharmaceutical companies.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 14, 2026

In January 1973, on the same day he was promoted to arts editor, Shalit debuted “Critic’s Corner,” the segment that would ultimately make him a household name.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 13, 2026

Last year he spoke to BBC culture editor Katie Razzall about his his biggest exhibition, at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris.

From BBC • Jun. 12, 2026

“We didn’t see it at the time, but item by inky item we were turning him into a New York icon,” wrote former Page Six reporter and editor Susan Mulcahy in a 2016 Politico piece.

From Slate • Jun. 11, 2026

But she would: The job was a bit of a sinecure after all; he would not have been offered it in the first place if the editor were not an old friend of hers.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie