secretary-general
noun
sec·re·tary-gen·er·al
ˈse-krə-ˌter-ē-ˈjen-rəl 
-ˈje-nə-rəl
plural secretaries-general
: a principal administrative officer
secretary-general of the United Nations
Examples of secretary-general in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Andrew Wilson, deputy secretary-general for policy at ICC, disputed the report’s findings and said that the numbers are overstated.
—
Jeff Young, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Nov. 2025
Jagland at the time was the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, an international organization focused on human rights and the rule of law on the continent.
—Daniel Arkin, NBC news, 13 Nov. 2025
During his first meeting with NATO’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte, in March, Trump reiterated his position that allies must spend more on defense or risk having the United States reassess its commitments to the alliance.
—Robert C. O’Brien, Foreign Affairs, 5 Nov. 2025
According to Prof Thomas Perlmann, secretary-general of the Nobel Assembly, only Sakaguchi could be reached at the time of the announcement.
—Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 7 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for secretary-general
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.
Jeff Young, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Nov. 2025
Jagland at the time was the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, an international organization focused on human rights and the rule of law on the continent.
—Daniel Arkin, NBC news, 13 Nov. 2025
During his first meeting with NATO’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte, in March, Trump reiterated his position that allies must spend more on defense or risk having the United States reassess its commitments to the alliance.
—Robert C. O’Brien, Foreign Affairs, 5 Nov. 2025
According to Prof Thomas Perlmann, secretary-general of the Nobel Assembly, only Sakaguchi could be reached at the time of the announcement.
—Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 7 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for secretary-general
Cite this Entry
“Secretary-general.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secretary-general. Accessed 29 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share