adviser

noun

ad·​vis·​er əd-ˈvī-zər How to pronounce adviser (audio)
variants or advisor
: someone who gives advice
a financial/investment adviser
She was not signing on as a domestic or foreign-policy adviserPeggy Noonan
In this meeting, Clifford, who had been a senior Truman aide and an adviser to Kennedy, used George Ball's memorandums in pleading that the war could not be won.Sidney Blumenthal
In December, she and her thesis advisor, Neal Evans, used the camera, attached to a 50-inch telescope, to look for infant stars in a giant molecular cloud in the constellation Orion.Andrew Chaikin
In a real sense, the emperor's astronomical ministers functioned like advisors in a modern president's cabinet, advising him on how best to conduct the affairs of state in a harmonious and effective manner.Laurence A. Marschall

Did you know?

What's the difference between adviser and advisor?

Adviser or advisor? It doesn't matter what your computer's spellcheck tells you, adviser and advisor are both correct. Although there is enough overlap between these two words that they are generally considered simply to be different ways to spell the same word, there are some cases in which one tends to be used more often than the other. Some people feel that advisor is more formal, and it tends to be found more often when applied to official positions, such as an advisor to a president. When referring to someone who is serving in a military role, especially when using the term as a euphemism (as when claiming that troops are actually military advisers), then adviser is somewhat more common.

Examples of adviser in a Sentence

our financial adviser had some words of caution about buying a second home
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
McMahon has made Meg Kilgannon, who advocates for more Christian leadership in school districts, a top adviser. Megan O’Matz, ProPublica, 10 Oct. 2025 Rishi Sunak will serve as a senior adviser to both. Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 10 Oct. 2025 Last October, in conjunction with TAG, Oklahoma brought in former AT&T CEO and OU alum Randall Stephenson as the chair of football and special adviser to Castiglione and president Joe Harroz Jr. Chris Vannini, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025 Housing construction nationwide never fully recovered from the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, said both Clark and Michael Saadine of Atlanta, senior adviser to the bipartisan National Housing Crisis Task Force. Arkansas Online, 8 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for adviser

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1536, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of adviser was circa 1536

Cite this Entry

“Adviser.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adviser. Accessed 14 Oct. 2025.

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