Definitions

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

  • noun An office worker employed chiefly to receive visitors and answer the telephone.

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

  • noun An employee who receives visitors and/or calls, typically in an office setting.
  • noun A secretary whose tasks prominently include the above.

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

  • noun a secretary whose main duty is to answer the telephone and receive visitors

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Recorded since 1901, derived from reception (itself from Latin receptiō ("the act of receiving; reception"), from receptus, the perfect passive participle of recipiō ("receive")) + -ist.

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