undersecretary

noun

un·​der·​sec·​re·​tary ˌən-dər-ˈse-krə-ˌter-ē 

-ˈse-kə-

variants or under secretary

: a secretary immediately subordinate to a principal secretary

—often capitalized when used as a title

the British Undersecretary for India

the Under Secretary of the Treasury

Examples of undersecretary in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But their requests have drawn resistance from undersecretary of defense for policy Elbridge Colby, who has long opposed moving US military assets from Asia to the Middle East, people sympathetic to each side of the argument told Semafor. —Ben Smith, semafor.com, 14 June 2025

Mary Glackin, a former undersecretary at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the NWS' parent agency, says the weather service has been temporarily assigning employees to field offices around the country to cover staff shortages. —Greg Allen, NPR, 3 June 2025

What to Know About the Pentagon Memo The Pentagon memo, signed by Timothy Dill, the acting undersecretary for personnel, follows recent book removals from military academies and significantly broadens the effort. —Gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 May 2025

Wendy Sherman, a former U.S. undersecretary who led the U.S. negotiating team that reached the 2015 agreement, earlier said that Tehran presents enrichment as a matter of sovereignty. —Reuters, NBC news, 24 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1687, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for undersecretary

• beneficiary
• bronchopulmonary
• evolutionary
• expeditionary
• extramedullary
• extraordinary
• extrapulmonary
• genitourinary
• geostationary
• hepatobiliary
• illocutionary
• insurrectionary

Kids Definition

undersecretary

noun

un·​der·​sec·​re·​tary ˌən-dər-ˈsek-rə-ˌter-ē 

: a secretary right under a principal secretary

undersecretary of state