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Glite Dictionary
Secretary of the Navy

Secretary of the Navy

14 6.0
Leader of the United States Navy department before 1947 in charge of its operations
  • noun
  • /ˈsɛkrəˌtɛri əv ðə ˈneɪvi/
  • Archaic
translation icon : secretario de la Marina (EE. UU.)
  • In a letter of commendation from H. J. Bernsen on behalf of the Secretary of the Navy, Beyer was credited with displaying exceptional leadership and resourcefulness.
  • former Secretary of the Navy
  • Assistant Secretary of the Navy
  • served as Secretary of the Navy

I don't out of that seat now, but dude, he, I mean, they, they got rid of the Secretary of the Navy over this.

Examples

  • I'd like to think our next Secretary of the Navy would be prepared for anything, Mr. Hayes.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • So who appoints the Secretary of the Navy?

    Blog text (12)

  • Webb was Secretary of the Navy.

    Blog text (6)

  • In April 1942, Secretary of the Navy James Knox announced that the Navy would begin enlisting African Americans for general service.

    Academic text (2015)

  • In addition, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, who graduated from Harvard Law School with a J.D. in 1976, will attend the game.

    Blog text (31)

  • As a former Secretary of the Navy, he shared his insights on military strategy.

  • The Secretary of the Navy announced new policies to improve naval readiness.

  • During his term, the Secretary of the Navy prioritized modernization of the fleet.

Synonyms

Navy Secretary
vsSecretary of the Navy
  • Formal
1 6.3

The government leader of the United States Department of the Navy before 1947

is identical in meaning but uses a different word order for the title

Surface Forms

Secretary of the Navy singular

Morphology

secretary + of + the + navy

The phrase is a direct compositional title: 'secretary' denotes a senior official or head and 'navy' denotes the maritime military service, so 'Secretary of the Navy' straightforwardly means the head of the navy. The prepositional 'of' signals the institutional relationship and this title-formation pattern is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the parts would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Secretary of the Navy comes from the old use of 'secretary' for a trusted official who kept important papers and gave advice to a leader. When governments set up a separate Navy department, the trusted person running navy business was called the Secretary of the Navy, so today the title means 'the head of the Navy'.