From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsecretarysec‧re‧ta‧ry /ˈsekrətəri $ -teri-/ ●●● S2 W1 noun (plural secretaries) [countable] 1 BOsomeone who works in an office typing letters, keeping records, answering telephone calls, arranging meetings etc My secretary will fax you all the details.medical/legal secretary2 a) PGO (also Secretary of State) the head of an important department in the British government the Foreign Secretary → Home Secretary b) PGOan official in charge of a large government department in the US the Secretary of Defense c) PGOa British official who works in a government department or embassy and is below the rank of minister or ambassador the First Secretary at the British Embassy → Secretary of State, undersecretary3 SSOa member of a club or organization who takes notes in meetings, writes official letters etc the secretary of the tennis club
Examples from the Corpus
secretary• A secretary pops in to say that a lawyer insists on talking with Meagher immediately by phone.• But good news came when Truman appointed Dean Acheson secretary of state.• A company which has a sole director is required by s. 283 to have another person as its company secretary.• He must have asked his secretary for the file on Andy, and she got the wrong one.• He wants to be Northern Ireland secretary.• the secretary of the chess club• The secretary lost Awlad Amira support and became a night watchman in a school.• The secretary was enormously dissatisfied with how some of our programs were being managed, and made no bones about it.medical/legal secretary• On the jury questionnaire the woman listed her daughter as a legal secretary but neglected to say she was employed by Garcetti.• I am a single 33-year-old woman employed as a legal secretary.• Kelly Jones has joined the staff as a medical secretary.• She also mentioned that her daughter is a legal secretary.• A LEGAL secretary who claimed she had been unfairly dismissed from work during sick leave is considering appealing after losing her case.• Currently this module is being offered to students in Dundee undertaking programmes in business studies and for medical secretaries.• Carroll, a 53-year-old legal secretary who was stabbed and slashed 61 times at her home in northeast Escondido.From Longman Business Dictionarysecretarysec‧re‧ta‧ry /ˈsekrətəri-teri/ noun (plural secretaries) [countable]JOB1someone who works in an office helping to organize the work, answering the telephone, arranging meetings etcHis personal secretary (=one working for only him) handles all his appointments.2someone who works for a large organization and who is responsible for running its daily affairsthe general secretary of the European Confederation of trade unions3a government official in charge of a particular department or area of worktheTrade SecretaryHe has been appointed Secretary of State for Health.Origin secretary (1300-1400) Medieval Latin secretarius “someone who does private work for another, secretary”, from Latin secretus; → SECRET1 