columnist
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of columnist
Explanation
A columnist writes regularly for a newspaper or magazine, usually expressing opinions or commentary. A columnist might write an article endorsing a candidate for president one week, and a story about a terrible local fire the next week. If you get a job as a newspaper columnist, you'll be expected to publish on a regular basis, maybe once or twice a week. An advice columnist answers letters that ask for help with personal problems and dilemmas, and a political columnist comments on various current events and political figures. The word columnist comes from a newspaper column, which got that name from the "vertical division of a page" meaning.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Earlier this month, newspaper columnist Larry Ryan declared hardbacks should be ditched.
From BBC • May 24, 2026
A week isn’t enough to understand a war, but as your Global View columnist absorbs an avalanche of impressions and information, three things seem clear.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 18, 2026
That’s why, as an advice columnist, I have made it my business to wait for the question.
From MarketWatch • May 18, 2026
Consider this: Last week, New York Times columnist David French sat down with Gorsuch himself to interview him about the children’s book the justice has published in advance of America’s 250th birthday.
From Slate • May 13, 2026
New York Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Harrison Salisbury came to my city to investigate the stories of racial violence; he wanted to find out if the rumors were really true.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
