columnist

/ˈkɑləm(n)əst/

/ˈkɒləmnɪst/

Other forms: columnists

A columnist writes regularly for a newspaper or magazine, usually expressing opinions or commentary. A columnist might write an article endorsing a candidate for president one week, and a story about a terrible local fire the next week.

If you get a job as a newspaper columnist, you'll be expected to publish on a regular basis, maybe once or twice a week. An advice columnist answers letters that ask for help with personal problems and dilemmas, and a political columnist comments on various current events and political figures. The word columnist comes from a newspaper column, which got that name from the "vertical division of a page" meaning.

Definitions of columnist

1. noun

   a journalist who writes editorials
   synonyms: editorialist

   types:

   newspaper columnist

   a columnist who writes for newspapers

   agony aunt

   a newspaper columnist who answers questions and offers advice on personal problems to people who write in

   gossip columnist

   a journalist who writes a column of gossip about celebrities

   newspaper critic

   a critic who writes a column for the newspapers

   type of:

   journalist

   a writer for newspapers and magazines