publish

verb

Simple meaning

To issue for distribution and/or sale.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

puhblish

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpʌblɪʃ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

Prepare and issue for public distribution or sale
transitive
To issue (something, such as printed work) for distribution and/or sale.
transitive
To issue the work of (an author).
intransitive
To issue a medium (e.g. publication).
transitive
To announce to the public.
Have (one's work) issued for publication
“She published 25 books during her long career.”

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Prepare and issue for public distribution or sale

Used this way, publish is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: No strong connotation
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

bring out , used mainly in Regional English

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use publish

“She published 25 books during her long career.”verb
“The newspaper published the news of the royal couple's divorce.”verb

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

publishedadjectiveInflected form
Prepared and printed for distribution and sale.
publishernounInflected form
A firm in the publishing business.
publishingnounInflected form
The business of issuing printed matter for sale or distribution.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

publishing housenounCompound term
A firm in the publishing business.
publishing companynounCompound term
A firm in the publishing business.
publishing conglomeratenounCompound term
A conglomerate of publishing companies.
publishing empirenounCompound term
A conglomerate of publishing companies.
publishing firmnounCompound term
A firm in the publishing business.
magazine publishernounCompound term
A business firm that publishes magazines.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: prepare and issue for public distribution or sale

bring outRegional

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.