stringer

American  

[string-er] / ˈstrɪŋ ər /

noun

1. a person or thing that strings.

2. a long horizontal timber connecting upright posts.

3. Architecture. string.

4. Civil Engineering. a longitudinal bridge girder for supporting part of a deck or railroad track between bents or piers.

5. a longitudinal reinforcement in the fuselage or wing of an airplane.

6. Also called string correspondent.  Journalism. a part-time newspaper correspondent covering a local area for a paper published elsewhere.

   The Los Angeles paper has a correspondent in San Francisco but only a stringer in Seattle.

7. a stout string, rope, etc., strung through the gills and mouth of newly caught fish, so that they may be carried or put back in the water to keep them alive or fresh.

8. a contestant, player, or other person ranked according to skill or accomplishment (used in combination).

   Most of the conductors at the opera house were third-stringers.

9. Mining. a small vein or seam of ore, coal, etc.

---

stringer British  

/ ˈstrɪŋə /

noun

1. architect

   1. a long horizontal beam that is used for structural purposes

   2. another name for stringboard

2. nautical a longitudinal structural brace for strengthening the hull of a vessel

3. a journalist retained by a newspaper or news service on a part-time basis to cover a particular town or area

---

Other Word Forms

• restringer noun

Etymology

Origin of stringer

late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; string, -er ¹

Example Sentences

She previously covered corporate governance and financial regulation as an intern reporter at Bloomberg Law and reported on crime as a metro stringer at the New York Times.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

She contributed to the New York Times as an election stringer during the 2024 presidential election and reported on culture and politics at the Paris Olympics.

From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2025

Whether it is providing detailed insight about an Australian Open opponent or carrying his racquets to the stringer, Andy Murray has got Novak Djokovic's back.

From BBC • Jan. 23, 2025

She moved to Jerusalem in 1966, at age 20, and lived there through two wars and one peace treaty, working as a journalist for The Jerusalem Post and as a stringer for Time magazine.

From New York Times • May 7, 2024

The keepers he put on a stringer, a woven cord with a three-inch nail tied to its end, anchored with a rock on the riverside.

From "Mississippi Trial, 1955" by Chris Crowe

Related Words

• author
• biographer
• columnist
• correspondent
• critic
• dramatist
• editor
• essayist
• journalist
• novelist
• poet
• reporter
• screenwriter