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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

secretary.

A person who keeps records, takes notes and handles general clerical work.

9 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈsɛk.ɹə.tə.ɹi/UK/ˈsɛk.ɹə.tɹi/UK/ˈsɛk.(ɹ)əˌtɛɹ.i/General-American[ˈsɛk.(ɹ)əˌtʰɛɹ.i]General-American
  1. A person who keeps records, takes notes and handles general clerical work.

    I have a personal secretary to help me organize my clients.
    The secretary at the school is in charge of communication between parents, students, and staff.
  2. The head of a department of government.

    capitalized · often
  3. A managerial or leading position in certain non-profit organizations, such as political parties, trade unions, international organizations.

    Ban Ki-Moon was a secretary general of the United Nations.
    As the Soviet Union collapsed, the party secretaries in the Central Asian republics found themselves leaders of newly-established sovereign countries.
  4. A type of desk, secretary desk; a secretaire.

    US
  5. A secretary bird, a bird of the species Sagittarius serpentarius.

  6. Someone entrusted with a secret; a confidant.

    obsolete
  7. Someone employed as a scribe for personal correspondence.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Medieval Latin secrētārius (“one entrusted with secrets”), from Latin secrētus (“private, secret”), past participle of secernere (“to separate, set apart”), from se- (“apart”) + cernere (“to separate”).

verb/ˈsɛk.ɹə.tə.ɹi/UK/ˈsɛk.ɹə.tɹi/UK/ˈsɛk.(ɹ)əˌtɛɹ.i/General-American[ˈsɛk.(ɹ)əˌtʰɛɹ.i]General-American
  1. To serve as a secretary of.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Medieval Latin secrētārius (“one entrusted with secrets”), from Latin secrētus (“private, secret”), past participle of secernere (“to separate, set apart”), from se- (“apart”) + cernere (“to separate”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.