advertisement
Americannoun
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advertisements
plural
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a paid announcement, as of goods for sale, in newspapers or magazines, on radio or television, or on the internet.
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a public notice, especially in print.
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the action of making generally known; a calling to the attention of the public.
The news of this event will receive wide advertisement.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of advertisement
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Middle French avertissement; see origin at advertise, -ment
Explanation
A public notice promoting the sale of a certain item is called an advertisement. The word is often shortened to ad. They're on TV, on the radio, online, in the paper — you can't even escape advertisements at the movies. Although advertisements are usually meant to persuade, they aren't always just for selling goods. They're a great way to get the word out on just about anything. You can place an advertisement for all kinds of things: to look for your long-lost sister, to hire an employee, or to announce a local dance. Even way back in the 1600s, the British were posting advertisements for trips to a newfound place called "Virginia."
Vocabulary lists containing advertisement
Media Literacy - High School
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Media Literacy - Middle School
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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:
Of course, if you see hashtags like #ad, #sponsored, #paid or #paidpartnership on a post, that means it’s an advertisement.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
Eventually, the complaints became sufficiently widespread that Instacart did what corporations increasingly do when confronted with an inconvenient internet phenomenon: It made the phenomenon into an advertisement.
From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026
Executives at the broadcast networks have groused for years that the telecast had become an advertisement for its competition, first when premium cable networks such as HBO and Showtime scored multiple wins and nominations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
The analysts forecast seasonally soft revenue growth for both advertisement and commerce segments due to the Chuseok holiday in September.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
I was munching on a bright red one I’d picked up during my afternoon marketing when I came across an advertisement in the newspaper that made me jump out of my chair.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
Now adolescents can listen to the vast repertoire available on Spotify and YouTube for free as long as they tolerate advertisements.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
Google's omnipresent search engine now defaults to AI summaries of a person's query, and that hit the number of advertisements it was able to sell during the quarter.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
We unfortunately exist in a timeline where too many people — and influencers especially — act as stealth advertisements.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
On October 14, MBL and NRK had also threatened to sue Meta, accusing the American giant of profiting from fraudulent advertisements impersonating them in order to defraud internet users.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
I had never seen Miss Love when she wasn’t dolled up like one of those M. Rich & Bros. fashion advertisements in the Atlanta newspapers.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
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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.
