publication
Americannoun
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publications
plural
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the act of publishing a book, periodical, map, piece of music, engraving, or the like.
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the act of bringing before the public; announcement.
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the state or fact of being published.
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something that is published, especially a periodical.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of publication
1350–1400; Middle English publicacioun < Latin pūblicātiōn- (stem of pūblicātiō ) a making public, confiscation, equivalent to pūblicāt ( us ) (past participle of pūblicāre to make public ) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
A publication is something made to communicate with the public. Publications are usually printed on paper (like magazines and books), but online publications are delivered via the Internet. The noun publication comes from the Latin word publicare, meaning “make public.” Publication usually means something is written and made available publicly, but a company or government can submit publications of things like earnings or unemployment indexes that are communicated differently. If you are an aspiring author, publication of your work is, most likely, the Holy Grail you seek.
Vocabulary lists containing publication
National Librarian Day
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Reading: Informational - Middle School
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Media Literacy - High School
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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:
But the suspicions about him were further fed when evidence emerged of plagiarism in a newspaper column and a short story he wrote before the publication of his novel.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Batter can hardly believe his good fortune when, through a curious sequence of events, he gets a job at this remarkable publication, which is housed in an equally remarkable building.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
The discovery led to the publication of a scientific paper, external that compared the fossil with those across Europe.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
The funders had no role in considering the study design or in the collection, analysis, interpretation of data, writing of the report, or decision to submit the article for publication.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026
“Mr. Berrycloth, may I have a word? I don’t know if you’ve seen this new publication, sir, If the Invader Comes. They’re being posted to every home.”
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
The study was one of the final research publications involving Peter Littlewood, a distinguished UChicago physicist who died on June 15.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026
Murdoch's publications have switched political allegiances throughout the decades, backing the Conservatives in the 1980s and early 90s and switching to Labour in 1997, before returning to the Conservatives in 2010.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
The latest blow to McClatchy’s newsrooms came last week when Chatham sent layoff notices to more than 90 unionized journalists and media workers at 17 publications in California and elsewhere across the country.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
He made his announcement during a Monday speech in National Harbor, Maryland, at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference of the Air and Space Forces Association—an event that would certainly be covered by specialist publications.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
Several news publications looked into the predictions of powerful yet clean nuclear weapons made by Lawrence, Teller, and the president and determined they were talking fantasy.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
