journalist
Americannoun
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a person who practices the occupation or profession of journalism.
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a person who keeps a journal, diary, or other record of daily events.
noun
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a person whose occupation is journalism
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a person who keeps a journal
Etymology
Origin of journalist
Explanation
A journalist is a person whose job involves writing nonfiction stories for newspapers, magazines, or online news sites. If you are reading or hearing a news story, you have a journalist to thank for providing that story. One type of journalist is a reporter, who researches topics and interviews people before writing a story or producing a piece for TV. Editors, photographers, and columnists can also be described as journalists, particularly if they work for a newspaper. Another kind of journalist is a person who regularly writes in a journal or diary. Journalist comes from the Old French jornel, "day" or "day's work," which became journal, "daily publication."
Vocabulary lists containing journalist
Journalism
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"Hip-Hop as Culture" and "I Am Somebody"
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocabulary for April 1–April 7, 2023
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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.
Yes, chatbots are unusually persuasive, and writers pick up model biases without even knowing it, but the baseline isn’t some platonic ideal of a perfectly objective journalist.
From Slate • Apr. 17, 2026
Speaking on The Athletic FC podcast, external, journalist Carl Anka recalled receiving a book recommendation from Kompany.
From BBC • Apr. 15, 2026
And so had Johnson, a 38-year-old former journalist who turned to social media after being embroiled in plagiarism scandals at BuzzFeed and the Independent Journal Review.
From Salon • Apr. 15, 2026
“The future of the country runs through that family—it’s a monarchy,” said Abraham Jiménez Enoa, an exiled Cuban journalist and writer.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
She's a journalist who covers women's rights issues.
From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins
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.
