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
Etymology
Origin of lecturer
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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.
"The whole arrest tactic was disproportionate," says Dr Emma Cunningham, a criminology lecturer at the University of East London.
From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026
But Mauro Lubrano, a lecturer in International Relations at the University of Bath, said calling such actors lone wolves "is actually not that accurate, because these groups are embedded in some sort of digital ecosystem."
From Barron's • Apr. 29, 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
Dr. Shaywitz is the chief medical scientist at Lore Health, a lecturer at Harvard Medical School and an adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 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.
