secretary

American  

[sek-ri-ter-ee] / ˈsɛk rɪˌtɛr i /

noun

• secretaries
  plural

1. a person, usually an official, who is in charge of the records, correspondence, minutes of meetings, and related affairs of an organization, company, association, etc..

   the secretary of the Linguistic Society of America.

2. a person employed to handle correspondence and do routine work in a business office, usually involving taking dictation, typing, filing, and the like.

3. private secretary.

4. (often initial capital letter) an officer of state charged with the superintendence and management of a particular department of government, as a member of the president's cabinet in the U.S..

   Secretary of the Treasury.

5. Also called diplomatic secretary.  a diplomatic official of an embassy or legation who ranks below a counselor and is usually assigned as first secretary, second secretary, or third secretary.

6. a piece of furniture for use as a writing desk.

7. Also called secretary bookcase.  a desk with bookshelves on top of it.

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secretary British  

/ -ərɪ, ˈsɛkrətrɪ, ˌsɛkrɪˈtɛərɪəl /

noun

1. a person who handles correspondence, keeps records, and does general clerical work for an individual, organization, etc

2. the official manager of the day-to-day business of a society or board

3. (in Britain) a senior civil servant who assists a government minister

4. (in the US and New Zealand) the head of a government administrative department

5. (in Britain) See secretary of state

6. (in Australia) the head of a public service department

7. diplomacy the assistant to an ambassador or diplomatic minister of certain countries

8. another name for secretaire

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• secretaryship
  noun
• subsecretary
  noun
• subsecretaryship
  noun
• undersecretaryship
  noun
• secretarial
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• secretaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of secretary

1350–1400; Middle English secretarie one trusted with private or secret matters; confidant < Medieval Latin sēcrētārius < Latin sēcrēt ( um ) secret (noun) + -ārius -ary

Explanation

If you handle the correspondence and clerical work for your boss or your company, you are a secretary. One of your duties as a secretary is to open the mail. Today, the preferred term for the kind of secretary who works in an office is administrative assistant. The noun secretary can also refer to the person who is in charge of an administrative department in the government, like the Secretary of Defense. A secretary can also be a piece of furniture — specifically, a type of writing desk.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

secretary secretaries

Asked if the new orders would withstand judicial scrutiny, Trump predicted they would, before directing the question to White House staff secretary Will Scharf.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

"He then walked down the stairs and encountered the school's deputy director and the director's secretary, who were going up the stairs to check on the situation," Police Major General Dejrapee Kongdee told Reuters.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

The NHS must prepare for the effects of heatwaves each year in the same way that it plans for cold weather in the winter, the health secretary has said.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

She then handed the drafts to her secretary.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

She could live with her mother and keep her job as a secretary at the nearby Marine base.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

Stanford’s Hoover Institution has housed former secretaries of State and national security advisors for decades.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

Having all this information in one place is especially vital for Cabinet secretaries and White House aides who make decisions on the National Security Council.

From Slate ● Jun. 15, 2026

The National Energy Dominance Council, led by the interior and energy secretaries, has “helped us with, candidly, introducing us and helping us meet some of these people overseas,” Calce said on an industry podcast.

From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026

The officers on the original list were selected by a board of admirals that are governed by “precepts” set by the service secretaries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026

We see also white Loyalists of Norfolk upon their pleasure-boats now laden with clocks, bedsteads, and inlaid secretaries.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

Related Words

• assistant
• clerk
• executive secretary