Journalist Meaning
/ˈd͡ʒɝnəlɪst/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe keeper of a personal journal, who writes in it regularly.
nounOne whose occupation is journalism, originally only writing in the printed press.
Sentence Examples
The journalist was too upset to distinguish vice from virtue.
One is a teacher, another is a doctor, and the other is a journalist.
She earns her living as a freelance journalist.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ wrote a detailed factual report after interviewing several important witnesses.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ interviewed many different people to get a complete and fair story for the local news station.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree English journal Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist English journalist From journal + -ist.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"“There’s this terrible business to start with. Scotland Yard men in and out of the house like a jack-in-the-box! Never know where they won’t turn up next. Screaming headlines in every paper in the country—damn all journalists, I say!”"
— 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 126:
"British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far."
— 2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848, archived from the original on 12 Mar 2023:
"A staff member of the Kuchar County Judiciary told RFA that he did not have the authority “to answer political questions of this magnitude,” when asked whether 150 people had died in No. 1 Camp, and whether the number included any government officials or other employees.
“We have a county-wide directive—firstly, to never provide answers to pretend journalists, and secondly, to never take phone calls of unknown origin,” he said."
— 2019 October 29, Shohret Hoshur, Joshua Lipes, “At Least 150 Detainees Have Died in One Xinjiang Internment Camp: Police Officer”, in Mamatjan Juma, transl., Radio Free Asia, archived from the original on 02 Dec 2019:
"In 2017, Katherine Maher, then the CEO of the WMF, re-imagined the nonprofit’s mission as “top-down social justice activism and advocacy,” as journalist Ashley Rindsberg described it."
— 2025 September 30, Larry Sanger, “4. Revive the original neutrality policy.”, in larrysanger.org, archived from the original on 29 Sep 2025:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ wrote a detailed factual report after interviewing several important witnesses.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ interviewed many different people to get a complete and fair story for the local news station.