Secretary
['sekrɪt(ə)rɪ] or ['sɛkrətɛrɪ]
Definition
(noun.) a desk used for writing.
(noun.) an assistant who handles correspondence and clerical work for a boss or an organization.
(noun.) a person who is head of an administrative department of government.
Edited by Jeanne--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) One who keeps, or is intrusted with, secrets.
(n.) A person employed to write orders, letters, dispatches, public or private papers, records, and the like; an official scribe, amanuensis, or writer; one who attends to correspondence, and transacts other business, for an association, a public body, or an individual.
(n.) An officer of state whose business is to superintend and manage the affairs of a particular department of government, and who is usually a member of the cabinet or advisory council of the chief executive; as, the secretary of state, who conducts the correspondence and attends to the relations of a government with foreign courts; the secretary of the treasury, who manages the department of finance; the secretary of war, etc.
(n.) A piece of furniture, with conveniences for writing and for the arrangement of papers; an escritoire.
(n.) The secretary bird.
Inputed by Celia
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Scribe, clerk.
Checked by Juliana
Definition
n. one employed to write for another: a public officer entrusted with the affairs of a department of government or of a company &c.: a piece of furniture for writing with drawers pigeon-holes &c. (also Secretaire′).—adj. Secretā′rial pertaining to a secretary or his duties.—ns. Secretā′riate the official position of secretary; Sec′retary-bird a raptorial serpent-eating bird resembling the crane found in South Africa and the East—from the tufts of feathers at the back of its head like pens stuck behind the ear; Sec′retaryship.
Checker: Shari
Examples
- They say, don't they, he went on, that the secretary helped her to get away from her brute of a husband, who kept her practically a prisoner? Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- But no one knows so well as the Secretary, who opens and reads the letters, what a set is made at the man marked by a stroke of notoriety. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Among others who went was the Secretary of War, who seemed much pleased at the result of his campaign. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- There's your pay, Mister Rokesmith,' said the Golden Dustman, jerking the folded scrap of paper he had in his hand, towards his late Secretary. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- When the nobleman and his secretary had left, my friend flung himself at once with characteristic eagerness into the investigation. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Mrs Boffin will be very well pleased,' said the Secretary in a perfectly composed way. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Don't say that,' urged the Secretary. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- My Noddy wanted a paper out of his Secretary's room, and I says to Noddy, “I am going by the door, and I'll ask him for it. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The door of the late Secretary's room stood open. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- I hope it may not,' said the Secretary in a lower voice, 'be the result of the false accusation which has been retracted. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Resuming his usual gravity, he went on: I received by this evening's post a note from the Home Secretary in answer to mine. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Pray tell me, Mr Headstone,' said the Secretary. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Few rustic paths are wide enough for five, and Bella and the Secretary dropped behind. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- To Thomas Jefferson, } Secretary of State of the United States. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Oldenburg from Bremen acted as secretary (along with Wilkins) and carried on an extensive foreign correspondence. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- At every court there were groups of ministers and secretaries who played a Machiavellian game against their foreign rivals. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- These articles were brought to me by Skyresh Bolgolam in person attended by two under-secretaries, and several persons of distinction. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- The consul and secretaries were already invited. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- What does one have secretaries for? Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- A man who has been false to the Brotherhood is discovered sooner or later by the chiefs who know him--presidents or secretaries, as the case may be. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- The Royal Society had made him a fellow when he was twenty-five years old, and one of its secretaries when he was twenty-nine. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- I presume we shall meet those two secretaries at dinner to-day. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Ask secretaries of life-assurance companies if that is true, Miss Halcombe. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- He sat at a table with several secretaries, who were arranging petitions, or registering the notes made during that day's audience. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- But the brother of one of the secretaries of the Republican Embassy at Paris made a trip to St Jean de Luz last week to meet people from Burgos. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
Inputed by Lilly