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.
Other recipients being given the honour, which will be awarded at a ceremony in June, will include BBC journalist Sarah Smith and her younger sister, the Advocate General for Scotland, Baroness Catherine Smith.
From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026
I stopped attending Mass once I began covering the church’s sex abuse scandals as a journalist.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2026
Investigative journalist Vicky Ward, who has reported on Epstein for decades, captured the absurdity plainly.
From Salon • Apr. 13, 2026
Freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson was released by Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah a week after her kidnapping in Baghdad.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
Race relations in Durham, declared a journalist who lived there for several years, were “distinguished by mutual politeness” and by “little public friction between the races.”
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
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.
