noun
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a person who reports, esp one employed to gather news for a newspaper, news agency, or broadcasting organization
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a person, esp a barrister, authorized to write official accounts of judicial proceedings
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a person authorized to report the proceedings of a legislature
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social welfare an official who arranges and conducts children's panel hearings and who may investigate cases and decide on the action to be taken
Etymology
Origin of reporter
1350–1400; Middle English reportour < Anglo-French ( Old French reporteur ). See report, -er 1
Explanation
A reporter is a journalist who goes out and gets the scoop on the news and informs the rest of us. If there’s a news conference or a train crash, a reporter is probably there getting the lowdown. If you want to be a reporter one day, you might study journalism in college, learning to write accurate and informative stories. Many reporters research, write, and edit articles about politics or current events, but you could also be a pop culture reporter or a tech reporter. The newspaper sense of reporter dates from 1798 — earlier it simply meant "one who gives an account."
Vocabulary lists containing reporter
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -er, -or
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Journalism Jargon
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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 same reporter followed by asking, “As in your last year?”
From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2026
Farhan Rafid is a reporter at Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal covering business, markets and economic developments across the Middle East region.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026
Channel 4 boss Priya Dogra previously declined to apologise when asked by a reporter following the broadcast of Panorama on Monday, although she did express her "sympathy" for those who had spoken up.
From BBC • May 20, 2026
"I'm not a potential future candidate, I'm a vice president," the 41-year-old said when a reporter suggested that he would be aiming for the presidency in two years.
From Barron's • May 19, 2026
The camera panned back to the reporter, who talked about the police investigation and Amber Alert.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
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.
