newsprint
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of newsprint
Explanation
Newsprint is the inexpensive paper that's used to print newspapers and ads. Magazines tend to be printed on glossy, high-quality paper, while newspapers are printed on the thin and messy newsprint. Because it's cheap, very strong, and makes a good background for the four-color printing that newspapers typically use, newsprint is the most popular kind of paper for this kind of printing. Newsprint was invented in the mid-1800s, from wood pulp. It comes on rolls that unspool into a printing press. Despite the decline in Western printed newspapers, demand for newsprint continues to grow in much of Asia, especially China.
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.
The digital age has crushed demand for newsprint and office paper, but e-commerce promised a golden era for corrugated boxes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
As the machine printed their work on newsprint paper, five technicians in uniform quickly flipped through the pages to check the quality.
From Barron's ● Jun. 1, 2026
Gone are the days of flavoring your morning coffee with a bit of ink, accidentally dipping the corner of the newsprint into a mug while thumbing through the pages.
From Salon ● Sep. 5, 2025
I love newsprint, because when I was very young, my parents gave me a microscope and the first thing I looked at was the edge of a torn newspaper.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2025
Inside was a nest of straw and newsprint, and inside the nest was a bird—something, Abdulrahman thought, between a pigeon and a dove.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
Definitions 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.
