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  

/ ˈsɛkrətrɪ, -ərɪ /

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

However, even the Defense Department’s calisthenics-addled secretary has managed to outdo himself.

From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026

The run-up in interest rates in recent years has complicated efforts to fund affordable housing projects, said Shaun Donovan, who was housing and urban development secretary during the Obama administration.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

Lord Wormald was replaced in February, making him the shortest-serving cabinet secretary in the history of the post.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

The local government secretary also told the BBC she wanted to be "clear-eyed" about what the planned shake-up in 16 areas of England was likely to achieve.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

He must see the secretary personally—those were his instructions.

From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson

At the Pentagon, President Trump attended a commemoration alongside cabinet secretaries and Condoleezza Rice, who was US secretary of state on 9/11.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

She had no experience running a major operation like a federal department, and no reform agenda of the sort pursued by Mr. Trump’s first-term labor secretaries, Alexander Acosta and Eugene Scalia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

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

There are lawyers and paralegals and secretaries and clerks, and everyone seems to know one another, and they definitely all know Mom.

From "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

Related Words

• assistant
• clerk
• executive secretary