pamphlet

[pam-flit]

See more synonyms for pamphlet on Thesaurus.com

noun

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.

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

Related formspam·phlet·ar·y, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for pamphlet

handout, leaflet, flyer, tract, brochure, folder, bulletin, announcement, compilation, circular, broadside, throwaway, tractate

Examples from the Web for pamphlet

Contemporary Examples of pamphlet

Occasionally a pamphlet for a salsa class might be tossed on a doorstop or stuck on a pole near a bus stop.
Iran’s Becoming a Footloose Nation as Dance Lessons Spread
IranWire
January 2, 2015
One attack came in the form of an interview in "Olam Katan," a weekly pamphlet distributed in synagogues across the country.
Rabbis Versus Rabbis
Adiv Sterman
March 22, 2012
As I thumbed through the pamphlet I turned to page 5, state measures.
Keep Your Laws Off My Family
Melissa Etheridge
October 29, 2008

Historical Examples of pamphlet

Many replies were made to Mr. Gladstone's pamphlet that were violent and abusive.
The Grand Old Man
Richard 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 I
Mrs. Humphry Ward
I have got a pamphlet on the West India Question sent me this morning.
Vivian Grey
Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli
This hall has been carefully described in a pamphlet by Heyne.
Beowulf
Anonymous
Paine felt that he had made one Republic with a pamphlet, why not another?
Shelley, Godwin and Their Circle
H. N. Brailsford

British Dictionary definitions for pamphlet

pamphlet

noun

a brief publication generally having a paper cover; booklet
a brief treatise, often on a subject of current interest, published in pamphlet form

Word Origin for pamphlet

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pamphlet

"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.