lecturer

American  

[lek-cher-er] / ˈlɛk tʃər ər /

noun

• lecturers
  plural

1. a person who lectures.

2. an academic rank given in colleges and universities to a teacher ranking below assistant professor.

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lecturer British  

/ ˈlɛktʃərə /

noun

1. a person who lectures

2. a teacher in higher education without professorial status

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• sublecturer
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• lecturers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of lecturer

First recorded in 1560–70; lecture + -er ¹

Compare meaning

How does lecturer compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• instructor vs. lecturer

Explanation

A lecturer is someone who stands up in front of a class and gives an organized talk designed to teach you something. There are lots of lecturers at colleges and universities. Although many professors lecture, in this country the title lecturer usually refers to a teacher who is not a permanent member of the faculty but one of the many college instructors who does not have tenure. The lecturer may even be hired for a single semester or year. The title is used slightly differently in England. There are some professional lecturers — people, like former President Bill Clinton, who make their living by going around the world giving speeches.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lecturer lecturers

"I don't think she necessarily has to get rid of him," said Marta Lorimer, lecturer in politics at Cardiff University.

From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026

"Defectors are the main source of information about the North," said Fyodor Tertitsky, lecturer at Seoul's Korea University, noting both South Korean intelligence and researchers interrogate them.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

The rebranding is "misleading", as super intelligence typically refers to a system that has the ability to improve by itself, said digital ethics lecturer Simon Coghlan from The University of Melbourne.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

“What matters for refiners is the delivered cost of the crude, and that includes freight,” said Adi Imsirovic, a former energy trader, and lecturer at the University of Oxford.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

Bram Fischer, a part-time lecturer, was the scion of a distinguished Afrikaner family: his grandfather had been prime minister of the Orange River Colony and his father was judge-president of the Orange Free State.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

In June, about 70% of voting non-tenure-track faculty approved unionizing under United Faculty-UAW, which seeks to represent roughly 2,700 USC lecturers, researchers, clinicians, librarians and pharmacists.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026

The USC union, United Faculty-UAW, represents roughly 2,700 non-tenure-track faculty across more than 20 schools and the USC libraries, including lecturers, researchers, clinicians, librarians and pharmacists.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

There was a time when lecturers with day jobs at nearby tech companies would reportedly include offer letters beneath graded exams as they returned them to those who showed the most potential.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

A 22-year-old Kabul University student said lecturers "have warned us... that if we don't have a proper Islamic appearance, which includes beards and head covering, they will deduct our marks".

From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026

Then there were lecturers, then there were assistant professors, then there were tenured professors.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

Related Words

• instructor
• professor