- a company or person engaged in publishing periodicals, books, music, etc
- US Canadian the proprietor of a newspaper or his or her representative
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
pub•lish•er
(pub′li shər),USA pronunciation n.
- Printing, Businessa person or company whose business is the publishing of books, periodicals, engravings, computer software, etc.
- Printing, Businessthe business head of a newspaper organization or publishing house, commonly the owner or the representative of the owner.
- 1425–75; late Middle English: one who proclaims publicly; see publish, -er1
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
publisher /ˈpʌblɪʃə/ n
pub•lish /ˈpʌblɪʃ/USA pronunciation
v.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Printingto issue (newspapers, books, or otherwise reproduced text or graphic material, computer software, etc.) for sale or distribution to the public: [~ + object]The company publishes books.[no object]The newspaper stopped publishing.
- Printing to issue publicly (the work of):[~ + object]They publish (the plays of) William Shakespeare.
pub•lish
(pub′lish),USA pronunciation v.t.
v.i.
pub′lish•a•ble, adj.
- Printingto issue (printed or otherwise reproduced textual or graphic material, computer software, etc.) for sale or distribution to the public.
- Printingto issue publicly the work of:Random House publishes Faulkner.
- to announce formally or officially;
proclaim;
promulgate. - to make publicly or generally known.
- Lawto communicate (a defamatory statement) to some person or persons other than the person defamed.
v.i.
- Printingto issue newspapers, books, computer software, etc.;
engage in publishing:The new house will start to publish next month. - Printingto have one's work published:She has decided to publish with another house.
- Latin pūblicāre to make public
- Anglo-French *publiss-, long stem of *publir, for Middle French publier
- Middle English publisshen 1300–50
- 3. disclose, reveal, declare. See announce.
- 3. conceal.
'publisher' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Baedeker
- Bradshaw
- colophon
- Debrett
- edition
- Hamlyn
- imprint
- package
- print
- pub.
- reader
- remainder
- title page
- Walter
- Wisden
- Woolf
- Abbott
- archconservative
- backlist
- Bancroft
- Barron
- Bartlett
- beach
- Beaverbrook
- bingo card
- Blackwood
- bogus
- Carter
- Cerf
- Chambers
- clean
- come
- contract
- co-publish
- copy protection
- Curtis
- Dana
- day
- death
- Diabelli
- drop-ship
- editor
- editorial
- foul matter
- frontlist
- Gernsback
- Godey
- Goodrich
- hack
- Harmsworth