Meaning & use
prothonotary
Last updated
A chief clerk in certain courts of law, historically responsible for keeping official records.
See it in a sentence
The prothonotary filed the court's judgment in the county records.
She worked for years as a prothonotary before becoming a judge.
A note on using this word
The word survives mainly in older or specialized legal systems, such as certain U.S. state courts; it is also the source of the name for the prothonotary warbler, a small yellow songbird.
Words with a similar meaning
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