secretary-general
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of secretary-general
First recorded in 1695–1705
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.
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Guterres, who leaves office at the end of the year, was on the first visit to the Mediterranean island by a UN secretary-general since 2010.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
He did not step down from his current post to campaign for secretary-general, saying it would be a "dereliction of duty."
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Xi’s speech was attended by nine Nobel Prize and Turing Award laureates as well as the United Nations secretary-general António Guterres.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
“We have to prepare to ensure there are safeguards in place,” said Byun, the union’s secretary-general.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Cyril Ramaphosa was elected secretary-general, evidence that the torch was being passed from an older generation of leadership to a younger one.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Previous secretaries-general have brought threats that they saw to international peace and security to the Security Council without mentioning Article 99.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 7, 2023
We don’t know why they didn’t invoke Article 99, and several of the previous secretaries-general are now dead.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 7, 2023
"The secretaries-general who've failed to get full second terms have antagonized one of the permanent five Security Council members," he said.
From Reuters ● Jun. 19, 2011
At Caramanlis' urging, the Cabinet fired all the military-appointed provincial prefects and all secretaries-general of the government ministries.
From Time Magazine Archive
The chief of all the personnel of prefects, under-prefects, and secretaries-general represented there, lolling on these velvet divans in this vulgar greenroom.
From His Excellency the Minister by Roberts, Henri
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.
