Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One whose occupation is journalism.
  • noun One who keeps a journal.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The writer of a journal or diary.
  • noun A person who conducts a public journal or regularly writes for one; a newspaper editor, critic, or reporter.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete One who keeps a journal or diary; a diarist.
  • noun One whose occupation is to write for any of the public news media, such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television, or internet; also, an editorial or other professional writer for a periodical.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun originally The keeper of a person journal, who writes in it regularly
  • noun One whose occupation or is journalism, originally only writing in the printed press.
  • noun A reporter, who professionally does living reporting on news and current events.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a writer for newspapers and magazines
  • noun someone who keeps a diary or journal

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From journal +‎ -ist.

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Examples

  • Mr. Guttenplan insists on treating Izzy Stone as not just a talented ­reporter — only a journalist could write so worshipfully of another ­journalist — but as a heroic figure whose dedication to the truth should shine like a beacon in dark times.

    Weighing a Crusader’s Legacy 2009

  • Thus he reminds us that the journalist is, in the literal and derivative sense, a _journalist_, while the missionary is an eternalist.

    Among Famous Books John Kelman 1896

  • That's the term journalist Charles Seife came up with to describe deliberately misleading numbers.

    Lies, Damned Lies, And 'Proofiness' 2010

  • That's the term journalist Charles Seife came up with to describe deliberately misleading numbers.

    Lies, Damned Lies, And 'Proofiness' 2010

  • That's the term journalist Charles Seife came up with to describe deliberately misleading numbers.

    Lies, Damned Lies, And 'Proofiness' 2010

  • That's the term journalist Charles Seife came up with to describe deliberately misleading numbers.

    Lies, Damned Lies, And 'Proofiness' 2010

  • I think, you know, the term journalist does imply some skill, and it does imply from training, no question about it.

    CNN Transcript Jan 22, 2008 2008

  • I think, you know, the term journalist does imply some skill, and it does imply some training, no question about it.

    CNN Transcript Jan 25, 2008 2008

  • But what happens when you take away the label journalist and just call the person a witness?

    Journalism as a control point « BuzzMachine 2008

  • Globe and Mail journalist (and I use the term journalist very loosely) Konrad Yakabuski even decided that the time was right to break out the "Danny Chavez" rhetoric once again and to slam the province for ensuring that its resources are not sold off to the highest bidder so Abitibi could continue to profit from the province even after it has closed its doors.

    Canada Free Press 2009

Comments

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  • Less trusted than politicians.

    June 3, 2008

  • But see Thomas Jefferson on the relative merits of newspapers and government. (Before he ran the government and tried to censor newspapers, of course.)

    June 3, 2008