SECRETARY | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

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Meaning of secretary in English secretarynoun [ C ] uk /ˈsek.rə.tər.i/ us /ˈsek.rə.ter.i/

secretary noun [C] (OFFICE)

Add to word list Add to word list A2 someone who works in an office, writing letters, making phone calls, and arranging meetings for a person or for an organization: My secretary will phone you to arrange a meeting.
  • a competent secretary
  • Unless it's marked 'private', my secretary usually opens my post.
  • Their conversations were taken down in shorthand by a secretary.
  • Ever since our secretary walked out, the office has been in a state of chaos.
  • She works as a bilingual secretary for an insurance company.
Types of employment
  • admin
  • administrative
  • administrative assistant
  • administratively
  • at the coalface idiom
  • job sharing
  • jobbing
  • jobless
  • joblessness
  • jobseeker
  • professionality
  • qualified
  • recertify
  • redundancy
  • redundant
  • WFH
  • white-collar
  • who's who idiom
  • wilderness years idiom
  • work experience
See more results »

secretary noun [C] (COMMITTEE)

C1 the member of a committee of an organization, club, etc. who keeps records of meetings, sends letters, emails, etc.: The three elected members of the committee are the chair, secretary, and treasurer. Organizations, Societies & clubs
  • academy
  • action committee
  • Assn
  • Assoc.
  • brotherhood
  • co-op
  • collegium
  • fellowship
  • housing association
  • insignia
  • membership
  • organization
  • Panhellenic
  • royal commission
  • search committee
  • secret society
  • semi-public
  • sister
  • sister company
  • trust
See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Official meetings

secretary noun [C] (OFFICIAL)

an official who has responsibility for the general management of an organization: The company secretary has written to all the shareholders to apologize for the mistake. Bosses & managers
  • absentee owner
  • active partner
  • administration
  • anti-boss
  • anti-management
  • co-partner
  • co-president
  • comptroller
  • coo
  • coordinator
  • headship
  • hierarchy
  • incident commander
  • industrialist
  • layer
  • silent partner
  • slave driver
  • sleeping partner
  • subdirector
  • submanager
See more results » Secretarynoun [ C ] uk /ˈsek.rə.təri/ us /ˈsek.rə.ter.i/ UK a Secretary of State : the Foreign Secretary the Home Secretary US the head of a government department, chosen by the president and not a member of a law-making group: the Secretary of Health and Human Services Government ministers & civil servants
  • aide
  • am
  • assistant commissioner
  • attorney general
  • backbencher
  • first minister
  • Foreign Secretary
  • functionary
  • government
  • Home Secretary
  • politician
  • press secretary
  • private member
  • private secretary
  • Privy Councillor
  • Surgeon General
  • syndic
  • town clerk
  • undersecretary
  • vizier
See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

International relations: United States politics & government (Definition of secretary from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

secretary | American Dictionary

secretarynoun [ C ] us /ˈsek·rɪˌter·i/

secretary noun [C] (OFFICE WORKER)

Add to word list Add to word list a person who works in an office and prepares letters, keeps records, schedules meetings, and makes other arrangements for a particular person or for an organization

secretary noun [C] (GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL)

the head of a government department: the Secretary of the Treasury

secretary noun [C] (WRITER)

an official in an organization who is responsible for writing notes about what happens at meetings and sending official letters: Freya is running for secretary of the student council. (Definition of secretary from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

secretary | Business English

secretarynoun [ C ] uk /ˈsekrətəri/ us secretaries Add to word list Add to word list WORKPLACE someone who works in an office, writing letters, making telephone calls, organizing meetings, etc. for other people: She works at the International Convention Centre as a secretary. When I called, her secretary said she was in a meeting. used in the names of some officials with particular responsibilities in some organizations: The secretary takes the minutes of the meeting. GOVERNMENT   (also Secretary) in the UK, a Member of Parliament or Member of the House of Lords who is in charge of a government department: Energy/Home/Foreign Secretarysecretary of sth He is a member of the Efficiency Commission and a former secretary of commerce. the Secretary of State for Health GOVERNMENT   (also Secretary); ( abbreviation Secy.) in the US, the head of a government department appointed by the President: Secretary of Defense Defense/Commerce/Treasury Secretary

See also

company secretary corporate secretary executive secretary general secretary press secretary (Definition of secretary from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of secretary

secretary The party secretary was accused of participating in the planning of the attack (their plan was not to inflict fatal injuries on the villagers). From the Cambridge English Corpus A litigious society created an increased need for litigation masters, while local magistrates had to rely ever more heavily on private secretaries. From the Cambridge English Corpus I settled on the executive vice president/chief medical offer and introduced myself to his secretary. From the Cambridge English Corpus Before 1963 there was no full-time manager, administrative duties being handled by a secretary and volunteers who staffed the headquarters and the clinics. From the Cambridge English Corpus Membership was confined to the regional commissioner, rural development officer, zonal rural development officer, regional technical officers and the administrative secretary. From the Cambridge English Corpus With ministers being temporary, this task falls to the permanent secretary. From the Cambridge English Corpus The permanent secretary, after reviewing both positions, re-introduced the two-tier system. From the Cambridge English Corpus It opened the gate. 11 out of 32 permanent secretaries were removed. From the Cambridge English Corpus As the party is the core of the leadership, the secretary has more power than you do. From the Cambridge English Corpus What happened this year, the provincial secretaries had a lot of discussion, using their lists. From the Cambridge English Corpus He looks much better in these borrowed plumes than when dressed as the secretary. From the Cambridge English Corpus In the first model party secretaries dominate the village power structure, that is there are strong party secretaries but weak village chiefs. From the Cambridge English Corpus Elected village chiefs increasingly resist party secretary control over village economic associations, and demand the right to control the village economy. From the Cambridge English Corpus The letters and papers he received were preserved by his secretaries and family, not kept by himself for later use. From the Cambridge English Corpus The regulations also made provisions for supernumerary secretary positions. From the Cambridge English Corpus See all examples of secretary These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with secretary

secretary

These are words often used in combination with secretary.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

assistant secretaryI am the assistant secretary. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 cabinet secretaryBarnet council's cabinet office was established last year and has two "non-political" members of staff—a full-time cabinet adviser and a part-time cabinet secretary. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 deputy secretaryOnly two were smaller craftsmen, and they held the relatively minor office of deputy secretary for a total of three years. From the Cambridge English Corpus These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. See all collocations with secretary What is the pronunciation of secretary, Secretary?

Translations of secretary

in Chinese (Traditional) 辦公室, 秘書, （委員會）秘書… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 办公室, 秘书, （委员会）秘书… See more in Spanish secretario, secretaria, ministro… See more in Portuguese secretário, secretária, Ministro de Estado… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Telugu in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian सचिव… See more 秘書, 長官, 大臣… See more sekreter, bakan… See more secrétaire [masculine-feminine], secrétaire… See more secretari, -ària… See more secretaresse, secretaris… See more ஒரு அலுவலகத்தில் பணிபுரியும் ஒருவர், கடிதங்களை எழுதுவது, தொலைபேசி அழைப்புகளைச் செய்வது மற்றும் ஒரு நபருக்கு அல்லது ஒரு நிறுவனத்திற்கு கூட்டங்களை ஏற்பாடு செய்வது… See more सचिव, सेक्रेटरी, बैठकों का रिकॉर्ड रखने और पत्र ईमेल आदि भेजने वाला किसी समिति… See more મંત્રી, સચિવ… See more sekretær… See more sekreterare… See more setiausaha… See more der Sekretär / die Sekretärin, der Geschäftsführer / die Geschäftsführerin… See more sekretær [masculine], minister [masculine], sekretær… See more سکریٹری (ایک عہدہ), سکریٹری (معتمند)… See more секретар… See more సెక్రటరీ, కార్యదర్శి / సమావేశాల రికార్డులను ఉంచే, లేఖలు ఇమెయిల్‌లు మొదలైనవాటిని పంపే సంస్థ… See more সচিব, সেক্রেটারি, এমন কেউ যিনি অফিসে কাজ করেন… See more sekretář, -ka, tajemník… See more sekretaris… See more เลขานุการ, เลขาธิการ… See more thư kí, cán bộ… See more sekretarka, sekretarz, protokolant… See more 비서, 장관… See more segretario, -a… See more Need a translator?

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secret weapon secretarial secretariat secretaries general secretary secretary general secretary of defense Secretary of State secrete {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of secretary

  • Home Secretary
  • subsecretary
  • press secretary
  • cabinet secretary
  • company secretary
  • corporate secretary
  • executive secretary
See all meanings

Word of the Day

throw yourself into something

UK /θrəʊ/ US /θroʊ/

to do something actively and enthusiastically

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  • English   
    • Noun 
      • secretary (OFFICE)
      • secretary (COMMITTEE)
      • secretary (OFFICIAL)
    Noun
  • American   
    • Noun 
      • secretary (OFFICE WORKER)
      • secretary (GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL)
      • secretary (WRITER)
  • Business   Noun
  • Examples
  • Collocations
  • Translations
  • Grammar
  • All translations
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