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bulletin

American  
[bool-i-tn, -tin] / ˈbʊl ɪ tn, -tɪn /

noun

  • bulletins
    plural
  1. a brief account or statement, as of news or events, issued for the information of the public.

  2. Journalism.

    1. a brief, prominently featured newspaper account, based upon information received just before the edition went to press.

    2. a similar brief account broadcast over radio or television pending further information.

  3. a pamphlet or monograph summarizing the past achievements, existing conditions, and future plans of a corporation, educational institution, government agency, etc., especially one cataloging the classes taught at a college or university.

  4. an official, special, or scholarly periodical, as of a learned society.


verb (used with object)

bulletined, bulletining
  1. to make known by a bulletin.

bulletin British  
/ ˈbʊlɪtɪn /

noun

  1. an official statement on a matter of public interest, such as the illness of a public figure

  2. a broadcast summary of the news

  3. a periodical publication of an association, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. (tr) to make known by bulletin

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of bulletin

1645–55; < French, perhaps < Italian bullettino, equivalent to bullett ( a ) ( bulla bull 3 + -etta -ette ) + -ino -ine 2

Explanation

A brief news report or statement that's written or spoken is a bulletin. A TV reporter might read a bulletin announcing the winner of a presidential election, for example. You're most likely to hear a bulletin on the radio or television, usually in the form of a news update. A bulletin can also be a written or emailed report or newsletter that gives you brief information. A bulletin board is a message board that has such bulletins pinned to it. The root of bulletin is the Italian bulletta, "document" or "voting slip."

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing bulletin

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:

Around her stood people in T-shirts with the same illustration featured on the church’s bulletin that week: a phoenix representing Boyle Heights rising from the flames of a hellish warehouse.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 8, 2026

Since first emerging online in 2019 on the online bulletin board 4chan, the Backrooms phenomenon has expanded across Reddit, TikTok, YouTube and gaming platforms, where users collectively map, narrate and extend its mythology.

From Science Daily Jul. 26, 2026

A pickup in volatility is typically associated with falling risk assets, says Watling, in a bulletin published Thursday.

From MarketWatch Jul. 10, 2026

Yet amid the strident shouts, random rudeness and ceaseless cacophony of our current-day United States, that painting, in the quiet within those walls, offers a lesson that can seem as urgent as a breaking-news bulletin.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 3, 2026

My list of eighth-grade goals is pinned up on the bulletin board next to the bookshelves, so neat and hopeful.

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

In a long thread posted on X Friday, designed to replicate the ten-point commodity bulletins he published at Goldman, Currie welcomed investors to “the most asymmetric trade in modern financial history.”

From MarketWatch May 15, 2026

Tide tables have become the stuff of national interest, and rare moments when the exhausted whale has blown water or flapped its fin have warranted breaking news bulletins.

From Barron's Apr. 23, 2026

The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t published any national terrorism advisory bulletins, periodic updates to alert the public to the current threat level, since September.

From Salon Apr. 22, 2026

China-linked hacks have often been the focus of these bulletins.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 10, 2026

Outsourcing news bulletins to India also allows Reuters to extend the breadth of its reporting to more small-cap companies, companies it was not cost-efficient for Reuters to follow before with higher-paid journalists in New York.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman

Fears that the King-Emperor was sinking redoubled when the Royal physicians* bulletined their "anxiety concerning the strength of the heart."

From Time Magazine Archive

Several times each day the struggle between Death and Life was bulletined.

From Time Magazine Archive

The doctors bulletined, "The situation is very grave."

From Time Magazine Archive

Several U. S. correspondents present bulletined to their editors: The likeliest candidate for the Regency is Queen Marie.

From Time Magazine Archive

Within two hours after the North German Lloyd bulletined the Trave every berth was taken on the Etruria.

From As Seen By Me by Lilian Bell

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