notify
Americanverb (used with object)
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notifies,
present (3rd person singular)
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notified,
past participle, past
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notifying
present participle
verb
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to inform; tell
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to draw attention to; make known; announce
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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notifiernoun
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prenotifyverb (used with object)
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renotifyverb (used with object)
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notifiableadjective
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unnotifiedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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notifysimple
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notifiessimple
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have notifiedperfect
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has notifiedperfect
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am notifyingprogressive
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are notifyingprogressive
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is notifyingprogressive
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have been notifyingperfect progressive
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has been notifyingperfect progressive
Past
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notifiedsimple
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had notifiedperfect
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was notifyingprogressive
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were notifyingprogressive
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had been notifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of notify
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English notifien, from Middle French notifier, from Latin nōtificāre, from (g)nōt(us), past participle of (g)nōscere “to come to know” ( see also know 1) + -ificāre -ify
Explanation
To notify is to officially give someone a piece of information. If your poem wins the local poetry competition, the judges will notify you that you're the winner. When you notify someone about something, it can be good or bad news. New parents notify friends and family about their baby's birth. When a library's money problems force it to close on Sundays, it might notify its patrons with an email or a letter. Notify comes from the Latin notificare, "to make known," which stems from notus, "known," and facere, "make or do."
Vocabulary lists containing notify
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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:
Ukraine’s air defenses were unaffected as the app serves only to notify the public, Ihnat said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Your county elections official will notify you by mail, phone or email.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
The judge made the decision after an emergency hearing in which she sharply criticized the government for failing to notify the court and the opposing side of its plans until late Friday.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
Reyes had repeatedly instructed the government to notify the court and preservationists before undertaking significant work at the course.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026
“What good would it do to notify the police?” she wanted to know.
From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
Spectr explains its reasoning and notifies the user when it lacks data to complete a task.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
The IRS notifies households of penalties by a written letter sent through the mail.
From MarketWatch ● May 27, 2026
One caveat is that the law requires that “the pupil notifies the school ahead of the absence.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2026
The IDN, for instance, has a system to alert trained observers to respond to ICE action, and notifies people based on their proximity to the action.
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2026
Upon the heels of this, Governor Smith notifies the Secretary of War that the two regiments of second class militia here, acting with the reserves, shall no longer be under the orders of Gen. Kemper.
From A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital by John Beauchamp Jones
US President Donald Trump has notified Congress of his intention to remove South Africa and Rwanda from a preferential trade programme, from 1 January 2027.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner will release the woman’s identity after her family has been notified, Orozco said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2026
However, the government has now removed the two-year deadline so payments will no longer become taxable solely because they were made more than two years after a pension scheme was notified of the death.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Why had Google notified the user about the administrative subpoena from a “noreply” email address that they couldn’t respond to?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
General Russell also decided to call an assistant secretary of defense, just to get the Pentagon notified.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
The judgment also found that Facebook committed to notifying users when an app misused their data and deliberately didn’t.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026
"After notifying Police Scotland, the communication is being investigated as a hoax, and our schools are operating as normal," the spokesperson said.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
We believe that the combination of weather and rapid glacier retreat in early August 2025 was likely sufficient to issue an alert notifying people that the hazard may be temporarily elevated in a general area.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
The case spawned in Nevada, of all places, as the local Gaming Control Board sent a cease-and-desist letter notifying Kalshi that it was violating Nevada statutes and gaming regulations.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
“We don’t know who he was, and if we did, we have no way of notifying anyone. So I suppose, if we want it, the truck is ours.”
From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
