journalist
Americannoun
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journalists
plural
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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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
Last year, the company decimated the staff of the Merced Sun-Star, leaving it with one journalist funded through a university grant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Congress has previously questioned arms deals with Riyadh after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
In a series of now-deleted posts on X, independent film journalist Jeff Sneider expressed frustration about being “ghosted” by the publicity team of “Obsession” breakout star Inde Navarrette.
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026
On May 9—UNC’s commencement day—she emailed Dean Stoyer, the university’s vice chancellor for communications, requesting records related to journalist Pablo Torre’s 2025 podcast episode that claimed she was banned from UNC football facilities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Then again, I’m a journalist and I ask questions for a living.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
But the best financial journalists in the game can’t always get every single shred of detail “in the room.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
California has lost more than 12,000 of its local journalists since 2002, according to nonprofit advocacy group Rebuild Local News.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
It’s become a cliché that journalists ought to speak truth to power.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
The French president was speaking to journalists after meeting party leaders to discuss the security impact of the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
True, her mother mostly covered small stories, but journalists found things out.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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.
