Standard Lemma guide

publicity

noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /pʌbˈlɪsɪti/
  • Canada: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪsɪti
  • CMU ARPABET: P AH0 B L IH1 S AH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: P AH0 B L IH1 S IH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Public interest attracted in this way.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The condition of being the object of public attention.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The quality of being public, not private.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

the quality of being open to public view

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the publicity of the court room

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: quality

6

noun

Meaning 6

a message issued in behalf of some product or cause or idea or person or institution

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the packaging of new ideas

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: promotion, promotional material, packaging

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: message, content, subject matter, substance

Narrower terms: buildup, public relations, PR, endorsement, indorsement, blurb, ballyhoo, hoopla, hype, plug, sales talk, sales pitch, pitch, ad, advertisement, advertizement, advertising, advertizing, advert, sales promotion

History

Etymology

From French publicité, From Medieval Latin pūblicitātem, accusative singular of pūblicitās, from Latin pūblicus (“public, general”). Morphologically public + -ity.

Across languages

Translations

42 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: գովազդ (govazd) — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Bulgarian: реклама (reklama) — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Catalan: publicitat — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Chinese Mandarin: 宣傳 /宣传 (xuānchuán) — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Dutch: publiciteit — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Esperanto: reklamo — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • French: publicité — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • German: Werbung — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Greek: διαφήμιση (diafímisi) — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Hindi: प्रचार (pracār) — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Irish: bolscaireacht — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Italian: pubblicità — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Japanese: 宣伝 (senden) — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Japanese: 広報 (kōhō) — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Macedonian: рекла́ма (rekláma) — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Malay: publisiti — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Malay: pengiklanan — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Malay: seranta — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Norwegian Bokmål: publisitet — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: publisitet — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Portuguese: publicidade — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Romanian: publicitate — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Russian: рекла́ма (rekláma) — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Russian: пабли́сити (pablísiti) — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Spanish: publicidad — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Spanish: toda la publicidad — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Spanish: publicidades — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Swedish: publicitet — advertising or other activity designed to rouse public interest in something
  • Catalan: publicitat — public interest attracted in this way
  • Dutch: publiciteit — public interest attracted in this way
  • Greek: δημοσιότητα (dimosiótita) — public interest attracted in this way
  • Malay: publisiti — public interest attracted in this way
  • Romanian: publicitate — public interest attracted in this way
  • Russian: сла́ва (sláva) — public interest attracted in this way
  • Russian: изве́стность (izvéstnostʹ) — public interest attracted in this way
  • Armenian: հրապարակայնություն (hraparakaynutʻyun) — the condition of being the object of public attention
  • Bulgarian: публичност (publičnost) — the condition of being the object of public attention
  • Bulgarian: гласност (glasnost) — the condition of being the object of public attention
  • Greek: δημοσιότητα (dimosiótita) — the condition of being the object of public attention
  • Malay: publisiti — the condition of being the object of public attention
  • Russian: гла́сность (glásnostʹ) — the condition of being the object of public attention
  • Russian: пабли́сити (pablísiti) — the condition of being the object of public attention
Real reading context

publicity in complete knowledge articles