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.
Investigative journalist Roger Cook, the reporter credited with having invented the doorstep interview technique, has died peacefully after a short illness, his family has confirmed.
From BBC • Jun. 15, 2026
A leopard sighting was reported to Dyfed-Powys Police in Cwmtwrch, Swansea, on 16 January 2023, when the reporter saw a "leopard with spots walking around the garden when their dog was let out".
From BBC • Jun. 15, 2026
To investigate their effects, the team used an advanced genomic method called a "massively parallel reporter assay."
From Science Daily • Jun. 14, 2026
The digital recording system used as a backup to the official court reporter produced a transcript the defense said was too flawed to be of much use.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 13, 2026
“I never experienced such a strong earthquake in my life,” a city official from Sendai told a reporter in disbelief that night.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
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.
