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.
For nearly a decade, Be Scofield, a reporter on cult movements and the author of “Hunting Lucifer: One Reporter’s Search for Cults and Demons,” has followed what she considers the New Age movement’s dark side.
From Salon • May 19, 2026
However, when asked by a reporter if she wanted to apologise to the women involved, she declined to comment and walked off.
From BBC • May 19, 2026
In a clip that went viral this week, Becerra was involved in the most nails-on-a-chalkboard exchange with a reporter that we’ve witnessed in recent memory.
From Slate • May 16, 2026
Days earlier, another clip began to circulate, showing Porter threatening to end an interview with CBS California reporter Julie Watts after becoming frustrated by Watts’ questioning.
From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2026
A foreign diplomat told a reporter, “You can’t believe it’s possible that human beings can be so regimented or that, in such a short time, an entire nation could have become so war-minded.”
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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.
