secretary of state


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Related to secretary of state: Secretary of Defense

secretary of state

n. pl. secretaries of state
1.
a. The president's chief advisor for foreign policy, head of the US State Department, and senior Cabinet official.
b. A state official who advises the governor on policy issues.
2. A high-ranking administrative official in a nation's government.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

secretary of state

n
1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) (in Britain) the head of any of several government departments
2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) (in the US) the head of the government department in charge of foreign affairs (State Department)
3. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) (in certain US states) an official with various duties, such as keeping records
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

secretary of state

The head of a government department, for example foreign affairs or defense.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.Secretary of State - the person who holds the secretaryship of the Department of State; "the first Secretary of State was Thomas Jefferson"
secretary - a person who is head of an administrative department of government
2.secretary of state - a government minister for foreign relationssecretary of state - a government minister for foreign relations
government minister, minister - a person appointed to a high office in the government; "Minister of Finance"
3.Secretary of State - the position of the head of the State Department; "the position of Secretary of State was established in 1789"
secretaryship - the position of secretary
United States Cabinet, US Cabinet - a board to advise the President; members are the secretaries of executive departments; the United States constitution does not provide for the cabinet
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
külügyminiszter

Secretary of State

n (Brit) → ministro (Am) → segretario di Statoministro degli Esteri
Secretary of State for Education (Brit) → ministro della Pubblica Istruzione
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
The Duke paused, in his way across the crowded reception rooms, to speak to his host, Sir Edward Bransome, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
To be Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the greatest power which the world had as yet known must certainly seem, on paper, to be as brilliant a post as a man's ambition could covet.
Monroe, then secretary of state, requesting protection from the government of the United States.
But your idea of assurances over there," said the great man, with a contemptuous wave of his hand towards a window giving on the broad thoroughfare, "seems to consist mainly in making the Secretary of State look a fool.
This was Speranski, Secretary of State, reporter to the Emperor and his companion at Erfurt, where he had more than once met and talked with Napoleon.
Colbert, placed with Michel Letellier, secretary of state in 1648, by his cousin Colbert, Seigneur de Saint-Penange, who protected him, received one day from the minister a commission for Cardinal Mazarin.
Spenser was advanced at court, and soon after went to Ireland in the train of the Lord-Deputy as Secretary of State. At that time Ireland was filled with storm and anger, with revolt against English rule, with strife among the Irish nobles themselves.
I earnestly hoped and prayed that he might die before the Recorder's Report was made, but, in the dread of his lingering on, I began that night to write out a petition to the Home Secretary of State, setting forth my knowledge of him, and how it was that he had come back for my sake.
A prey to the most harrowing anxieties and apprehensions, he went from magistrate to magistrate, and finally to the Secretary of State. The only comfort he received was from this minister, who assured him that the Government, being now driven to the exercise of the extreme prerogatives of the Crown, were determined to exert them; that a proclamation would probably be out upon the morrow, giving to the military, discretionary and unlimited power in the suppression of the riots; that the sympathies of the King, the Administration, and both Houses of Parliament, and indeed of all good men of every religious persuasion, were strongly with the injured Catholics; and that justice should be done them at any cost or hazard.
'Then,' said Mr Gregsbury, 'it would be necessary for him to make himself acquainted, from day to day, with newspaper paragraphs on passing events; such as "Mysterious disappearance, and supposed suicide of a potboy," or anything of that sort, upon which I might found a question to the Secretary of State for the Home Department.
This lady was the daughter of Nicholas de Camus, who arrived in Paris with twenty francs in his pocket, became secretary of state, and accumulated wealth enough to divide nine millions of francs among his children and to keep an income of forty thousand for himself.
Fang was at that moment perusing a leading article in a newspaper of the morning, adverting to some recent decision of his, and commending him, for the three hundred and fiftieth time, to the special and particular notice of the Secretary of State for the Home Department.

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