edition

American  

[ih-dish-uhn] / ɪˈdɪʃ ən /

noun

• editions
  plural

1. one of a series of printings of the same book, newspaper, etc., each issued at a different time and differing from another by alterations, additions, etc. (distinguished from impression).

2. the format in which a literary work is published.

   a one-volume edition of Shakespeare.

3. the whole number of impressions or copies of a book, newspaper, etc., printed from one set of type at one time.

4. a version of anything, printed or not, presented to the public.

   the newest edition of a popular musical revue.

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edition British  

/ ɪˈdɪʃən /

noun

1. printing

   1. the entire number of copies of a book, newspaper, or other publication printed at one time from a single setting of type

   2. a single copy from this number

      a first edition

      the evening edition

2. one of a number of printings of a book or other publication, issued at separate times with alterations, amendments, etc Compare impression

3. 1. an issue of a work identified by its format

      a leather-bound edition of Shakespeare

   2. an issue of a work identified by its editor or publisher

      the Oxford edition of Shakespeare

4. a particular instance of a television or radio programme broadcast

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verb

1. (tr) to produce multiple copies of (an original work of art)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• preedition
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• editions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of edition

1545–55; (< Middle French ) < Latin ēditiōn- (stem of ēditiō ) publication, equivalent to ēdit ( us ) (past participle of ēdere; see edit) + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

An edition is a particular version of a publication. A book collector will pay a lot of money for a first edition of an important work (but that probably doesn’t include any of the paperbacks on your shelf). Edition can also refer to a book’s format. If you really enjoy reading a particular book, you might want to purchase a leather-bound, gilded-edge edition of it. In addition, edition can designate a particular issue of a newspaper. If you're a fan of crossword puzzles, you know that the toughest puzzle usually appears in the weekend edition.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

edition editions

Appeared in the August 29, 2026, print edition as 'Drug Companies Speed Toward a Patent Cliff'.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

Appeared in the August 29, 2026, print edition as 'Busting the ABA’s Accreditation Monopoly'.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

This year's sold-out edition of the event started on Friday and was set to run until Sunday.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

Rather than point state regulators to a fixed edition of the forms, the rule directs them to the NAIC’s dynamic website.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Or at least anyone looking for them with the first edition in hand would think they were gone.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Only one unfortunate choice mars the whole—the original reproductions of artwork that appear in the original Russian editions are replaced by lovely but abstract images by Gideon Bosker designed to evoke the text.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Games that will indulge your ’90s nostalgia: In honor of Party Like It’s 1996, we’ve rolled out ’90s-themed editions of all of our games for Slate Plus members.

From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026

Subscribe here to get future editions in your inbox.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

This has proven true in recent editions of the climate pattern.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

In 1661, between the first two editions of The Spring of the Air, Boyle published his most famous book, The Sceptical Chymist.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

Related Words

• copy
• program
• publication
• release
• version
• volume