publication
Americannoun
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publications
plural
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the act of publishing a book, periodical, map, piece of music, engraving, or the like.
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the act of bringing before the public; announcement.
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the state or fact of being published.
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something that is published, especially a periodical.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of publication
1350–1400; Middle English publicacioun < Latin pūblicātiōn- (stem of pūblicātiō ) a making public, confiscation, equivalent to pūblicāt ( us ) (past participle of pūblicāre to make public ) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
A publication is something made to communicate with the public. Publications are usually printed on paper (like magazines and books), but online publications are delivered via the Internet. The noun publication comes from the Latin word publicare, meaning “make public.” Publication usually means something is written and made available publicly, but a company or government can submit publications of things like earnings or unemployment indexes that are communicated differently. If you are an aspiring author, publication of your work is, most likely, the Holy Grail you seek.
Vocabulary lists containing publication
National Librarian Day
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Reading: Informational - Middle School
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Media Literacy - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"The film has a few scattered giggles, but it's dawdling and cumbersome, and far less 'relevant' than it thinks," read a review from the Hollywood trade publication Variety.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026
Multiple Sundial staff members quit in protest, while some circulated a petition calling for the publication to cease operations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
A source told the publication that Manning intended to use the house for business, suggesting the investment would serve a different function from his sprawling family estate.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026
"I wanted my ex-wife's picture removed from the publication," he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
“Mr. Berrycloth, may I have a word? I don’t know if you’ve seen this new publication, sir, If the Invader Comes. They’re being posted to every home.”
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
The ad, which has since been removed, has attracted criticism and and also received international coverage in publications such as the New York Post.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
This, and a range of other publications hailing Asia’s economic “miracle” led Edwards to conclude “too many people believed the beguiling narrative” and as a consequence, “lent these economies cheap, abundant capital which was misallocated.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
He also has written reviews and essays for a variety of magazines, anthologies and online publications, most recently the "Everyone's Gone to the Movies" essay collections for Ghost Show Press.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
In publications in Nature Reviews Rheumatology and The Lancet Rheumatology, the team also introduced a model designed to help doctors identify the underlying causes of symptoms earlier and tailor treatment more effectively.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 27, 2026
It finally ended in defeat in April 1939, when the patent office rejected the claims finally and decisively based on the prior publications by Cockcroft and Walton and by Lewis, Lawrence, Livingston, and Henderson.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
