secretary Hear it!

secretary Definition

sec·re·tary (sek′rə ter′ē)

noun pl. -·tar′·ies

    1. a person whose work is keeping records, taking care of correspondence and other writing tasks, etc. as for an individual in a business office
    2. an officer of a company, club, etc. having somewhat similar functions
  2. ☆ an official in charge of a department of government
  3. a writing desk, esp. one topped with a small bookcase

Etymology: ML secretarius, one entrusted with secrets < L secretum: see secret

secretary Related Forms
sec′·re·tar′·ial adjective sec′·re·tar′y·ship′ noun
secretary Synonyms

secretary

n.

  1. A secondary executive officer

    director, manager, superintendent, cabinet member, cabinet officer, bureau chief, head of a department, department manager, administrator.

  2. An assistant

    administrative assistant, executive secretary, personal secretary, clerk, typist, stenographer, copyist, amanuensis, scribe, scrivener, recorder, confidential clerk, correspondent.

secretary Law Definition

n

An officer of a corporation charged with responsibility for keeping records and taking minutes.
secretary Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • appoint: The active membership will appoint a secretary who will maintain a register of all Members.
  • elect: Kevin Curran, the newly elected general secretary of the GMB, used his victory speech to attack the setting up of foundation hospitals.

Adjective modifier

  • deputy: The deputy secretary of defense still seems to enjoy being an idea man in the war business.
  • honorary: Extra-ordinary meetings may be convened by the honorary secretary, who will give 30 days written notice.
  • general: He went on to become our general secretary for over 20 years.
  • assistant: The officers were re-elected and, in addition, Mr Robert E Redman was appointed assistant secretary.
  • permanent: NOTES TO EDITORS Sir Christopher Kelly is a former permanent secretary of the Department of Health.
  • former: Philip Pretty, a former club secretary who lives in the village today, recalls stories told to him by his father.

Modifies a noun

  • evans: Commerce secretary evans group consisting of clients from europe.
  • o'neill: To sell his in the stands watching treasury secretary o'neill in an international.
  • rice: SECRETARY RICE: Well, I'm not able to go into numbers here.

Noun used with modifier

  • nominee: Nominee Secretaries do not usually have an active role or function in the actual business of the company.
  • shadow: Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin said the government had not thought the system through.
  • branch: Copies of the guidance have been sent to all branch secretaries.
  • defense: Donald Rumsfeld, defense secretary, has been the biggest skeptic.
  • defense: During the Gulf War he served as defense secretary under Bush's father, President George Bush.
  • membership: All members should forward their email address to their membership secretary.

Possessives

  • signature: The nominee secretary's signature on the forms to open a bank account ( no extra fee ).

Preposition: of

  • defense: The deputy secretary of defense still seems to enjoy being an idea man in the war business.
  • state: Patricia Hewitt has been named secretary of state for health, replacing John Reid.
secretary Quotes

Afew weeksago Ihad a revelation and told my secretary that I could give him a synthesis of forty-six years of living with economic policy. It is: 'Economic policy is random with respect to the performance of the American economy, but, thank God, there isn't much of it.'

—Stein, Herbert

While I cannot take time off to name all the men in the State Department whohavebeennamedasmembers of the Communist Party and members of a spy ring, I have here in my hand a list of 205 that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party, and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department.

—McCarthy,Joseph R(aymond)

Tell me, frankly, what ought to remain of Lenin: an art bronze, oil portraits, etchings, watercolours, his secretary's diary, his friends'memoirsö or a file of photographs taken of him at work and rest, archives of his books, writing pads, notebooks, shorthand reports, films, phonograph records? I don't think there's any choice. Art hasno place inmodernlife† Everycultured modern man must wage war against art, as against opium. Photograph and be photographed!

—Rodchenko, Alexander