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.

---

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

---

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

The 10-year plan is designed to deal with “unprecedented hydrologic conditions,” said Andrea Travnicek, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for water and science.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

The then justice secretary argued that it could help turn around the Crown Court backlog, which has reached record levels of 80,000 cases.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

Conor Murphy was speaking after the political parties separately met Sir Chris Bryant, during his first visit to Northern Ireland as secretary of state.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

The city released a list of celebrities and business executives who could be subject to Zohran Mamdani’s new tax, including a cabinet secretary and the president’s niece.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

The lavish, loose-living owner of the Washington Post, McLean was a buddy of both President Harding and the secretary of the interior.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

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

Kalshi said it uses a third-party vendor to block members of Congress, the president, cabinet secretaries, judges, other top government officials and their families from joining the platform.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026

These were the junior-staff quarters, where the secretaries and drivers lived, Aunty Ifeoma explained, and Amaka added, “If they are lucky enough to get it.”

From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Related Words

• assistant
• clerk
• executive secretary