An adviser or advisor is normally a person with more and deeper
knowledge
Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinc ...
in a specific area and usually also includes persons with cross-functional and multidisciplinary expertise. An adviser's role is that of a mentor or guide and differs categorically from that of a task-specific consultant. An adviser is typically part of the leadership, whereas
consultant
A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization.
Consulting servic ...
s fulfill functional roles.
The spellings ''adviser'' and ''advisor'' have both been in use since the 16th century. ''Adviser'' has always been the more usual spelling, though ''advisor'' has gained frequency in recent years and is a common alternative, especially in North America.
Etymology
The use of ''adviser'' is of English origin, with "er" as a noun ending, and ''advisor'' of Latin origin. The words are
etymological twin
In etymology, two or more words in the same language are called doublets or etymological twins or twinlings (or possibly triplets, and so forth) when they have different phonological forms but the same etymological root. Often, but not always, th ...
cognates
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical eff ...
and are considered interchangeable.
Word usage
Usage of the two words is normally a matter of choice, but they should not be used together in the same document. The Associated Press prefers (
AP Stylebook
The ''AP Stylebook'', also known by its full name ''The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law'', is an American English grammar style and usage guide created by American journalists working for or connected with the Associated Pr ...
) the use of "adviser", but
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...
(style guide) gives preference to "advisor", stating that it "is used more commonly in academe" and that "adviser is acceptable in releases going to organizations that follow AP style".
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
Office of Marketing and Media's Editorial Style Guide gives preference to "advisor". The
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
uses "adviser(s)", the
UK has
Special advisers, as well as the
Scottish Government, and the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
uses
Special Advisers. The US government uses both:
Council of Economic Advisers
The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the President of the United States on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the empirical resea ...
,
Office of the Legal Adviser
The legal adviser of the Department of State is a position within the United States Department of State. It was created by an Act of Congress on February 23, 1931 (P.L. 71-715; 46 Stat. 1214). The legal adviser replaced the solicitor, a Departm ...
,
Deputy National Security Advisor
The United States Deputy National Security Advisor is a member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and the United States National Security Council, serving under the President's National Security Advisor.
Among other res ...
(deputy to the President's NSA), Legal "Advisor" (
), that was part of the team tasked to conduct Combatant Status Review Tribunals of captives detained in Guantanamo Bay, and laws
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 The Investment Advisers Act of 1940, codified at through , is a United States federal law that was created to monitor and regulate the activities of investment advisers (also spelled "advisors") as defined by the law. It is the primary source of r ...
. The
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the United States Department of State fosters mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries around the world. It is responsible for the Un ...
's
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
has "advisers".
Specific uses
Finances
*
Commodity trading advisor
A commodity trading advisor (CTA) is US financial regulatory term for an individual or organization who is retained by a fund or individual client to provide advice and services related to trading in futures contracts, commodity options and/or ...
, any person who advises others re futures or commodity trading
* Financial advisor, also known as a
financial planner
A financial planner or personal financial planner is a qualified financial advisor. Practicing in full service personal finance, they advise clients on investments, insurance, tax, retirement and estate planning.
As a general rule, a financial ...
, a practicing professional who helps people to deal with various personal financial issues through proper planning
** In the UK, this person is known as a
financial adviser
A financial adviser or financial advisor is a professional who provides financial services to clients based on their financial situation. In many countries, financial advisors must complete specific training and be registered with a regulatory ...
**
Fee-Only financial advisor
A financial adviser or financial advisor is a professional who provides financial services to clients based on their financial situation. In many countries, financial advisors must complete specific training and be registered with a regulatory ...
, a financial advisor compensated only by clients and accepting no commissions or compensation from other sources
*
Financial Management Advisor
The financial management advisor (FMA) is a professional designation of the Canadian Securities Institute (CSI), the official educator of the Canadian securities industry. The FMA is a personal financial planning designation which is usually a pre ...
, a professional designation of the Canadian Securities Institute
*
Investment Advisor
A financial adviser or financial advisor is a professional who provides financial services to clients based on their financial situation. In many countries, financial advisors must complete specific training and be registered with a regulatory ...
, an individual or firm that advises clients on investment matters
*
Registered Investment Adviser A registered investment adviser (RIA) is a firm that is an investment adviser in the United States, registered as such with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or a state's securities agency. The numerous references to RIAs within the Inves ...
, an individual or firm who has registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or with a state regulatory agency in connection with the management of the investments of others
*
Tax advisor A tax advisor or tax consultant is a person with advanced training and knowledge of tax law. The services of a tax advisor are usually retained in order to minimize taxation while remaining compliant with the law in complicated financial situations. ...
, an individual or firm expert in tax law
Publications
*
''Broadband & Internet Advisor'' (originally ''Internet Advisor''), a magazine which provides articles, news, and reviews relating to Internet technology
* ''
The CPA Technology Advisor
''CPA Practice Advisor'' is a technology and practice management resource for accounting and tax professionals. It is offered in online digital and print versions, with six print issues per year (Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Oct, Dec) and 11 digital issues ...
'', a technology magazine for accounting and tax professionals
* ''
Resident Advisor
''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. It was established in 2001. ''RA''s editorial team provides news, musi ...
'', an online electronic-music magazine dedicated to the global dance-music scene
Specific advisory companies
*
Amaranth Advisors LLC, an American multistrategy hedge fund
*
Dimensional Fund Advisors
Dimensional Fund Advisors, L.P. (branded Dimensional abbreviated DFA) is a private investment firm headquartered in Austin, Texas. Dimensional was founded in Chicago in 1981 by David Booth, Rex Sinquefield and Larry Klotz. The company has affilia ...
, an investment firm that develops mutual funds grounded in academic research
*
State Street Global Advisors
State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) is the investment management division of State Street Corporation and the world's fourth largest asset manager, with nearly $4.14 trillion (USD) in assets under management as of 31 December 2021.
The company ...
, the investment management division of State Street Corporation
Specific advisory services
*
Dipmeter Advisor The Dipmeter Advisor was an early expert system developed in the 1980s by Schlumberger with the help of artificial-intelligence workers at MIT to aid in the analysis of data gathered during oil exploration. The Advisor was generally not merely an i ...
, an early system developed to aid in the analysis of data gathered during oil exploration
*
McAfee SiteAdvisor
The McAfee SiteAdvisor, later renamed as the McAfee WebAdvisor, is a service that reports on the safety of web sites by crawling the web and testing the sites it finds for malware and spam. A browser extension can show these ratings on hyperl ...
, an Internet service that warns users that a site may make them victims of malware or spam
*
MIT Design Advisor
The MIT School of Architecture and Planning (MIT SAP, stylized as SA+P) is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1865 by William Robert Ware, the school offered the f ...
, an online tool for exploring the energy performance of building designs
Media
Examples of the use of adviser and advisor in the media on a particular subject:
*
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
: "Deputy National Security ''Adviser'' Explains U.S. Options In ..."
* ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'': "deputy national security ''adviser'' for strategic communications"
* ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'': "Obama to Name Deputy National-Security ''Adviser''"
*
The White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
: "Briefing by Deputy National Security ''Advisor'' for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes"
*
English Wikipedia
The English Wikipedia is, along with the Simple English Wikipedia, one of two English-language editions of Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. It was founded on January 15, 2001, as Wikipedia's first edition, and, as of
, has the most arti ...
: Ben Rhodes (politician), "the current deputy national security ''adviser'' for strategic communication for U.S. President Barack Obama".
*
The Foundry: "CBS News President David Rhodes is the brother of Ben Rhodes, the White House deputy national security ''adviser''..."
*
Yahoo News
Yahoo! News is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by Yahoo!. The site was created by a Yahoo! software engineer named Brad Clawsie in August 1996. Articles originally came from news services such as the Associate ...
: "President Barack Obama's national security ''adviser''..."
*
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and, with ...
: "Rhodes is assistant to the president and deputy national security ''advisor'' for strategic communications and speechwriting".
Books
Use of "advisor" appeared in print in the United States in 1889, with ''The Tennessee Justice and Legal Advisor'' by William C. Kain and Horace N. Hawkins. ''The Department of Justice of the United States, Issue 15'', printed in 1927 by the Institute For Government Research, uses both spellings: "1. Political adviser and assistant to the President" and "Legal Advisor. Like all the other cabinet officers, the Attorney General is a political advisor of the President".
Google books; p. 18
Retrieved 2014-05-25.
Other
* Academic advisor
Academic advising is, according to the National Academic Advising Association, "a series of intentional interactions with a curriculum, a pedagogy, and a set of student learning outcomes. Academic advising synthesizes and contextualizes students' ...
, an employee of a college or university who helps students to select courses or an academic major
An academic major is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits. A student who successfully completes all courses required for the major qualifies for an undergraduate degree. The word ''major'' (also called ''conce ...
and engaging in short-term and long-term educational planning (in some countries, the professor who offers a student academic/methodologic assistance to prepare the work/thesis job necessary to obtain the degree)
* Doctoral advisor
A doctoral advisor (also dissertation director, dissertation advisor; or doctoral supervisor) is a member of a university faculty whose role is to guide graduate students who are candidates for a doctorate, helping them select coursework, as well ...
, an advanced member of a university faculty with the role of guiding a graduate student
* Combine Advisor
The Combine ( ) is a fictional multiverse, multidimensional empire which serves as the primary antagonistic force in the 2004 video game ''Half-Life 2'', and the subsequent episodes developed by Valve Corporation, Valve. The Combine consist of or ...
, a fictional creature from the ''Half-Life'' series
* Customer service advisor
Customer service representatives, customer service advisors, customer service agents, or customer service associates interact with customers to handle complaints, process orders, and provide information about an organization’s products and servic ...
, a generic job title in the service industry, principally used in the United Kingdom
* Dangerous Goods Safety Advisor
A Dangerous Goods Safety Advisor (DGSA) is a consultant or an owner or employee of an organization appointed by an organization that transports, loads, or unloads dangerous goods in the European Union and other countries. This include 48 countries ...
, a qualification required of chemical distributors and storage companies throughout the United Kingdom relating to packing and labeling of hazardous materials
* Legal advisor a lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
who gives legal advice
Legal advice is the giving of a professional or formal opinion regarding the substance or procedure of the law in relation to a particular factual situation. The provision of legal advice will often involve analyzing a set of facts and advising a p ...
* Military advisor
Military advisors, or combat advisors, advise on military matters. Some are soldiers sent to foreign countries
to aid such countries with their military training, organization, and other various military tasks. The Foreign powers or organizations m ...
s a form of military support
* Technical advisor
In film production, a technical advisor is someone who advises the director on the convincing portrayal of a subject. The advisor's expertise adds realism both to the acting and to the setting of a movie.
Nipo T. Strongheart
Nipo T. Stronghear ...
, an expert in a particular field of knowledge, hired (for example) to ensure that some area of knowledge is portrayed accurately in a movie
* Technical design advisor, a person in charge of advising in technical aspects of information-technology design
See also
* Judge–advisor system A judge–advisor system (JAS) is a type of advice structure often studied in advice taking research, a subset of decision-making in the social sciences. The two roles in a JAS are the judge and advisor roles. The judge is the decision maker who eva ...
*Council
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
Notes
{{Reflist
Occupations