pamphlet
[pam-flit]
- a complete publication of generally less than 80 pages stitched or stapled together and usually having a paper cover.
- a short treatise or essay, generally a controversial tract, on some subject of contemporary interest: a political pamphlet.
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Origin of pamphlet
1375–1425; late Middle English pamflet < Anglo-Latin panfletus, pamfletus, syncopated variant of Pamphiletus, diminutive of Medieval Latin Pamphilus, title of a 12th-century Latin comedy. See -et
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
handout, leaflet, flyer, tract, brochure, folder, bulletin, announcement, compilation, circular, broadside, throwaway, tractateExamples from the Web for pamphlet
Contemporary Examples
Occasionally a pamphlet for a salsa class might be tossed on a doorstop or stuck on a pole near a bus stop.
One attack came in the form of an interview in "Olam Katan," a weekly pamphlet distributed in synagogues across the country.
As I thumbed through the pamphlet I turned to page 5, state measures.
Historical Examples
Many replies were made to Mr. Gladstone's pamphlet that were violent and abusive.
The Grand Old ManRichard B. Cook
I had sent him the pamphlet the night before, and had not yet had a word from him.
A Writer's Recollections (In Two Volumes), Volume IMrs. Humphry Ward
I have got a pamphlet on the West India Question sent me this morning.
Vivian GreyEarl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli
This hall has been carefully described in a pamphlet by Heyne.
BeowulfAnonymous
Paine felt that he had made one Republic with a pamphlet, why not another?
Shelley, Godwin and Their CircleH. N. Brailsford
pamphlet
- a brief publication generally having a paper cover; booklet
- a brief treatise, often on a subject of current interest, published in pamphlet form
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Word Origin
C14 pamflet, from Anglo-Latin panfletus, from Medieval Latin Pamphilus title of a popular 12th-century amatory poem from Greek Pamphilos masculine proper name
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for pamphlet
n.
"small, unbound treatise," late 14c., from Anglo-Latin panfletus, popular short form of "Pamphilus, seu de Amore" ("Pamphilus, or about Love"), a short 12c. Latin love poem popular and widely copied in Middle Ages; the name from Greek pamphilos "loved by all," from pan- "all" + philos "loving, dear" see -phile). Meaning "brief work dealing with questions of current interest" is late 16c.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper