noun ·6 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An administrator immediately subordinate to a head of a government department or to a member of a cabinet
2. 2
   a secretary immediately subordinate to the head of a department of government wordnet
3. 3
   An assistant or deputy secretary of a government department

Synonyms

All synonyms

aldermanarchonbailieburghermasterburgomastercabinet member

Example

More examples

"The undersecretary was maintained in office by the political bosses."

Etymology

From under- + secretary.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.