subscription

American  

[suhb-skrip-shuhn] / səbˈskrɪp ʃən /

noun

• subscriptions
  plural

1. a sum of money given or pledged as a contribution, payment, investment, etc.

2. the right to receive a periodical for a sum paid, usually for an agreed number of issues.

3. an arrangement for presenting a series of concerts, plays, etc., that one may attend by the payment of a membership fee.

   to purchase a 10-concert subscription.

4. the right to receive a service or access text online for a certain period of time.

   a subscription to a media streaming service; a subscription to an online encyclopedia; a satellite-TV subscription.

5. Chiefly British. the dues paid by a member of a club, society, etc.

6. a fund raised through sums of money subscribed.

7. a sum subscribed.

8. the act of appending one's signature or mark, as to a document.

9. a signature or mark thus appended.

10. something written beneath or at the end of a document or the like.

11. a document to which a signature is attached.

12. assent, agreement, or approval expressed verbally or by signing one's name.

13. Ecclesiastical. assent to or acceptance of a body of principles or doctrines, the purpose of which is to establish uniformity.

14. Church of England. formal acceptance of the Thirty-nine Articles of 1563 and the Book of Common Prayer.

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subscription British  

/ səbˈskrɪpʃən /

noun

1. a payment or promise of payment for consecutive issues of a magazine, newspaper, book, etc, over a specified period of time

2. 1. the advance purchase of tickets for a series of concerts, operas, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      a subscription concert

3. an amount of money paid or promised, as to a charity, or the fund raised in this way

4. an offer to buy shares or bonds issued by a company

5. the act of signing one's name to a document, etc

6. a signature or other appendage attached to the bottom of a document, etc

7. agreement, consent, or acceptance expressed by or as if by signing one's name

8. a signed document, statement, etc

9. the membership dues or fees paid to a society or club

10. acceptance of a fixed body of articles of faith, doctrines, or principles laid down as universally binding upon all the members of a Church

11. med that part of a written prescription directing the pharmacist how to mix and prepare the ingredients: rarely seen today as modern drugs are mostly prepackaged by the manufacturers

12. an advance order for a new product

13. 1. the sale of books, etc, prior to printing

    2. ( as modifier )

       a subscription edition

14. archaic allegiance; submission

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonsubscription
  noun
• presubscription
  noun
• resubscription
  noun
• prosubscription
  adjective
• subscriptive
  adjective
• subscriptively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• subscriptions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of subscription

1400–50; late Middle English < Old French subscription < Latin subscrīptiōn- (stem of subscrīptiō ) “something written beneath, signature, subscription” equivalent to subscrīpt ( us ) ( see subscript) + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

A subscription is an agreement conveyed with a signature. It's also buying a bunch of issues of a periodical, such as a year's subscription to "The New York Times" newspaper. See the word script in subscription? That's a clue that this word has to do with writing. Specifically, a subscription is the act of signing something that you agree to, like a petition. You can have a subscription to a belief too. Also, when you order a magazine or newspaper's future issues, you buy a subscription. Subscriptions like this usually last one year: you pay, and the magazine agrees to send you copies until your subscription runs out.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

subscription subscriptions

Given nearly every household in America had a cable subscription during ESPN’s heyday, that equated to many billions of dollars in extremely high-margin revenue to Disney, delivered reliably and predictably every single year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Sophie's advice to others is to set reminders as soon as you sign up to a subscription for when the free trial ends.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

Investors have been concerned about Workday’s monetization prospects and its ability to maintain subscription growth in the face of AI-native vendor competition and decreasing company headcounts.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

After consulting briefly at Texas and Baylor, Patterson took a job with an Amazon college football show, he says, primarily for the subscription service that came with it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026

Aunt Angie’s husband worked for a satellite-TV company, and he’d offered Dad a deal on a subscription.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Hussein's tip for others is to read the terms and conditions and take caution before starting subscriptions.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

He noted that 70% of Tubi users do not have cable subscriptions, making the platform appealing to advertisers who want to reach consumers not watching traditional TV.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

The Wall Street Journal averaged more than 4.46 million digital-only subscriptions, compared with 4.33 million in the previous quarter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Disney scored higher revenues in its entertainment business behind growth in streaming subscriptions.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

I had a penknife, a ball of cord, an ax, and $40, which I had saved from selling magazine subscriptions.

From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

Related Words

• contribution