Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Secretary of Energy

Secretary of Energy

7 4.6
A person who leads the United States Department of Energy and advises the president on energy and nuclear safety
  • noun
  • /ˈsɛkrəˌtɛri əv ˈɛnərdʒi/
  • Formal
translation icon : Secretario de Energía
  • The committee explained its largess by citing a recent report from the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board.
  • Secretary of Energy James Watkins
  • Secretary of Energy Spencer
  • Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham

So they might be physicist PhD, who gets on very well with Ernie Moniz, who's our secretary of energy.

Examples

  • Bush then appointed Spencer Abraham as Secretary of Energy and John Ashcroft as Attorney General.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Case in point: Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.

    Blog text (27)

  • I'm the Secretary of Energy.

    Idiocracy (2006)

  • The Secretary of Energy should be placing a lot of political pressure on Congress to pass comprehensive energy reform.

    Blog text (13)

  • Rick Perry, Secretary of Energy and former Texas governor.

  • In August 1989, Secretary of Energy James Watkins released the DOE's Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Five-Year Plan.

    Academic text (1990)

  • The need for demonstration and appropriate incentives is described in a recent report by the National Coal Council to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, James D. Watkins.

    Academic text (1990)

  • To judge by this report, the Secretary of Energy sees weapons cleanup not only as a great challenge but as a foremost national priority that will help refocus the country's commitment to solving environmental and safety problems.

    Academic text (1997)

  • The conference committee expressed disappointment that NIF has encountered cost overruns, schedule delays, and management troubles, and directed the Secretary of Energy to certify by 1 June a new cost and schedule baseline.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The Senate today confirmed Ernest Moniz as the next Secretary of Energy.

Synonyms

Energy Secretary
vsSecretary of Energy
11 3.7

A government leader who runs the Department of Energy and plans how the country uses energy

has cabinet rank and also oversees nuclear safety duties

Surface Forms

Secretary of Energy singular
Secretaries of Energy plural

Morphology

secretary + of + energy

The meaning 'head of the Department of Energy' is directly and compositionally derived from 'secretary' (a senior official) + 'of' + 'energy' and follows the common title pattern 'Secretary of X'. This is a transparent, cross-linguistic naming construction that a B1 learner who knows the constituents can readily interpret.

Etymology

Secretary of Energy comes from U.S. government job names: secretary here means the person in charge and energy is the area they look after, so the phrase names the top official who manages the country's energy and safety. That's why it means 'head of the Department of Energy'.