secretariat

American  

[sek-ri-tair-ee-uht] / ˌsɛk rɪˈtɛər i ət /

Or secretariate

noun

secretariats plural

1. the officials or office entrusted with administrative duties, maintaining records, and overseeing or performing secretarial duties, especially for an international organization.

   the secretariat of the United Nations.

2. a group or department of secretaries.

3. the place where a secretary transacts business, preserves records, etc.

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secretariat British  

/ ˌsɛkrɪˈtɛərɪət /

noun

1. 1. an office responsible for the secretarial, clerical, and administrative affairs of a legislative body, executive council, or international organization

   2. the staff of such an office

   3. the building or rooms in which such an office is housed

2. a body of secretaries

3. a secretary's place of work; office

4. the position of a secretary

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• secretariats
  plural

Etymology

Origin of secretariat

1805–15; < French secrétariat < Medieval Latin sēcrētāriātus. See secretary, -ate ³

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

secretariat secretariats

It has closed offices and eliminated a record 3,000 secretariat posts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026

Velasco, a millennial who came of age in the digital era, is among the youngest officials to head the secretariat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026

The group’s secretariat will provide further details of how this collective action will be implemented in due course.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 11, 2026

China on Friday proposed to host the secretariat of a new treaty governing the high seas, a surprise bid that underscores Beijing's desire to have greater influence over global environmental governance.

From Barron's ● Jan. 17, 2026

I knew that P. W. Botha had created something called the State Security Council, a shadowy secretariat of security experts and intelligence officials.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

To do just that, the newly dubbed "superminister" insisted on broad powers before accepting the daunting task, including control over the agriculture, production and trade secretariats, which have previously acted independently.

From Reuters ● Aug. 5, 2022

Gov. Claudio Castro said on Twitter that he was mustering all heavy machinery belonging to several state secretariats to help dig out the buried area.

From Washington Times ● Feb. 16, 2022

“Accesses to the systems have been normalized, but it’s still possible to observe that the data suffer impacts from the hacker attack,” the national council of health secretariats told the AP in an emailed statement.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 7, 2022

We have commissions, tribunals and secretariats to fight racism.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 3, 2016

The spectacled people embalmed in secretariats alone among Anglo-Indians continue to see the gay visions of griffinhood.

From Twenty-One Days in India; and, the Teapot Series by Aberigh-Mackay, George Robert