desktop publishing

American

noun

Computers.

the design and production of publications by means of specialized software enabling a personal computer to generate typeset-quality text and graphics.

desktop publishing British

noun

DTP. a means of publishing reports, advertising, etc, to typeset quality using a desktop computer

"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

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.

When desktop publishing arrived in the 1980s, he was a graphic designer using triangles and rubber cement.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

"Graphic design has always developed in step with technological change - from letterpress to phototypesetting to desktop publishing and now Gen AI," she said.

From BBC • Oct. 25, 2025

“I admired entrepreneurs, and desktop publishing had just become a possibility.”

From Washington Post • Oct. 14, 2021

To demonstrate, let him tell you a little story about QuarkXPress, the desktop publishing program.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 4, 2021

Impression costs went on decreasing with desktop publishing, photocopiers, color photocopiers and digital printing equipment.

From Technology and Books for All by Lebert, Marie

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023