Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun plural Information about recent events or happenings, especially as reported by means of newspapers, websites, radio, television, and other forms of media.
  • noun plural A presentation of such information, as in a newspaper or on a newscast.
  • noun plural New information of any kind.
  • noun plural Newsworthy material.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A new or uncommon and more or less surprising thing; a new or unexpected event or occurrence.
  • noun Recent, but not necessarily unexpected, intelligence of something that has lately taken place, or of something before unknown or imperfectly known; tidings.
  • noun A newspaper.
  • noun A messenger with news.
  • noun Synonyms News, Intelligence, Tidings, Advices. News is the most general word, applying to real information which is or is not important, interesting, or expected; news meets especially the desire to know. Intelligence is also a general word, applying to news or information of an interesting character, enabling one to understand better the situation of things in the place from which intelligence comes: as, intelligence from the Sandwich Islands to the 1st ult.; intelligence of a mutiny. Tidings are awaited with anxiety. Advices are items of information sent for the benefit or pleasure of those receiving them. Thus, Philip II. expected no intelligence from the Armada for some days after it sailed; soon rumor brought him false news of a glorious victory gained over the English: his first reliable news of the defeat of the Armada came through advices; he received from time to time tidings of uniform disaster.
  • To report; rumor: as, it was newsed abroad that the bank had failed.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A report of recent occurrences; information of something that has lately taken place, or of something before unknown; fresh tidings; recent intelligence.
  • noun Something strange or newly happened.
  • noun obsolete A bearer of news; a courier; a newspaper.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun New information of interest.
  • noun Reports of current events broadcast via media such as newspapers or television.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun information about recent and important events
  • noun a program devoted to current events, often using interviews and commentary
  • noun information reported in a newspaper or news magazine
  • noun informal information of any kind that is not previously known to someone
  • noun the quality of being sufficiently interesting to be reported in news bulletins

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English newes, new things, tidings, pl. of newe, new thing, new; see new.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English newes, newys ("new things"), equivalent to new (noun) +‎ -s.

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Examples

  • AIPAC's 'news' Reporting of Interview with ElBaradei. yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'AIPAC\'s \'news\' Reporting of Interview with ElBaradei. '

    AIPAC's 'news' Reporting of Interview with ElBaradei. 2008

  • Then, I shall have news to tell, the _best of news_, I hope; and I won't need to keep anything back.

    The Golden Silence 1901

  • Then, journals were created merely to meet the demand, and news was given as it actually occurred; whereas, now, the competition has produced a change that any one can appreciate, when it is remembered to what a _competition in news_ must infallibly lead.

    Afloat and Ashore A Sea Tale James Fenimore Cooper 1820

  • Email us with your suggestions at news@ whitehaven-news. co.uk

    Whitehaven News headlines 2010

  • Email us with your suggestions at news@ whitehaven-news. co.uk

    Whitehaven News headlines 2010

  • So I changed it to define ( 'PRINT_TO_SCREEN', false); and then placed it before require ( "header. php"); but when I try use echo $news [ 'post_text']; and others like from the instrction in the news. php file there is notthing been outputed. yet if I use somthing like this echo $m [ 'username']; execpt for the $comment.

    phpBB.com crawlerbasher 2010

  • And good news, bad news─ I don't know which it is more─ but on the Medicare side of that, not the commercial insurance side, generally speaking Republicans like Medicare advantage,

    SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page 2008

  • HPFacebookVoteV2. init (162659, 'Unearthed: The News Without the Chaff', 'This recurring blog series features a collection of recent news stories about threats to public health, our democracy and the planet which are ignored or underreported by the handful of corporate mainstream media conglomerates, TV pundits, and radio shock jocks who\'ve turned the \ "news\" into little more than an entertainment and product placement opportunity and let down the American public.

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Brendan DeMelle: Unearthed: The News Without the Chaff 2009

  • In the world of journalism, the term "news release" is equivalent to "press release" -- the patent itself equates the two in the opening description.

    Drew Curtis: Patent-Infringement Lawsuit Against Fark Settled for Zero Dollars. Also, Patent Trolls Suck... Drew Curtis 2011

  • In the world of journalism, the term "news release" is equivalent to "press release" -- the patent itself equates the two in the opening description.

    Drew Curtis: Patent-Infringement Lawsuit Against Fark Settled for Zero Dollars. Also, Patent Trolls Suck... Drew Curtis 2011

Comments

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  • No! I only want one new! You can take the rest and sit on them!

    June 7, 2007

  • And how do you feel about olds?

    June 7, 2007

  • Out with the olds! In with the new!

    June 7, 2007

  • This word did not come about because it was the plural of 'new.' It came from the first letters of the words North, East, West and South. This was because information was being gathered from all different directions.

    May 7, 2008

  • I like that, whichbe, but I think it's a backronym. Check the OED.

    May 7, 2008

  • CNN on the plasma screen for the lulling white noise of the news. I'm immune to news, the news, breaking news, rolling news, newsflashes. Live long enough and nothing is news. 'the News' is 'the new things'... Even The News knows there's no real news, and goes to ever greater lengths to impart urgent novelty to its content. Have your say, that's the latest inanity, newscasters reading out viewer emails. From "The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan.

    February 26, 2012

  • I love this part from the Century: "Thus, Philip II. expected no intelligence from the Armada for some days after it sailed; soon rumor brought him false news of a glorious victory gained over the English: his first reliable news of the defeat of the Armada came through advices; he received from time to time tidings of uniform disaster."

    April 18, 2012

  • We’ve observed with some dismay that after periods of silence, news tends to come in… yeah, what exactly do we call these waves? Any suggestions for a collective noun for news?

    “An observance of news” sound pretty neat. Sometimes it feels more like “a bloat of news,” “a mess of news,” or “a ostentation of news.” When we’re late reporting on some news items, they become “an escargatoire of news,” but they must’ve been “an ambush of news” or they could not have caught us unprepared like that. Some might also split of as “a murmuration of news” when we can’t cite our sources. Any other suggestions?

    December 14, 2013

  • so, far, I've got

    flow of news

    trickle of news

    pile of news

    http://goo.gl/eFtiXc

    December 14, 2013

  • an apocalypse of news

    a thundersnow of news

    an avalanche of news; news avalanche

    a flood (tsunami) (stormsurge) ( jökulhlaup) of news

    a landslide of news, news landslide

    a shattering of news

    a taphocoenose of news

    December 14, 2013

  • Searching google for "* of news" gives
    world of news, today of news, headlines of news,
    business of news

    I think the 1920's radio revolution turned news from a physical thing to something which flows rapidly.

    I think the top 2 'of news' descriptors in the 20th century are 'flow of news' 'stream of news'


    So, before 1950, 'word' of news seems to be more common.  http://goo.gl/thGtVP (google ngram viewer) 

    December 14, 2013

  • Hehe, alexz is doing it right of course, but “a taphocoenose of news” is great! (Or taphocoenosis?) That’s what my “escargatoire of news” turns into when I’m asleep and only get to write them up eight hours later—except that snails don’t really have bones, so it’s more of “a chalk of news.”

    “A business of news” is also very cute, especially since I work for a company called Ferret Go that does newsy things.

    December 15, 2013

  • I got this:
    apply for job
    seeking job
    looking for job
    <a href="http://jobapplicationprintable.com">printable job application</a>

    May 6, 2014

  • One of my favorite subjects :)

    June 6, 2015

  • Re the etymology of 'news' one of my teachers said years ago it was formed from the initial letters of the 4 cardinal directions, North East West South, conveying the meaning 'information from all over'. Is there any support for this?

    June 17, 2015