lecturer
Americannoun
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a person who lectures.
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an academic rank given in colleges and universities to a teacher ranking below assistant professor.
noun
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a person who lectures
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a teacher in higher education without professorial status
Other Word Forms
- sublecturer noun
Etymology
Origin of lecturer
Compare meaning
How does lecturer compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
Vocabulary lists containing lecturer
Ancient Greece, Lessons 1–3
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Education and Academics, List 2
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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.
When broaching this conversation, don’t go straight into money talk, says Matt Abrahams, a communication consultant and lecturer in organizational behavior at Stanford University.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 25, 2026
Tom Nunan, a lecturer at UCLA’s film school and a former president at TV network UPN, credits MTV’s “The Real World” as a pioneer for this kind of TV.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 24, 2026
Like many researchers, Dr. Luke Turnock, a senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Lincoln in the U.K., warns against taking peptides since we don’t know their short- or long-term effects.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026
He is a lecturer in the economics department at Princeton University and a partner at Cornwall Capital, an investment fund based in New York.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
“And Helen must have been a guest lecturer in my class that day.”
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
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.
