Announce

How to spell announce

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce announce

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does announce mean?

1. verbTo make something known publicly or officially.

Announce in a sentence

• The company will announce its quarterly results on Thursday.

• The couple chose to announce their engagement at the family dinner.

Where does announce come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb annuntiare, meaning 'to bring news' or 'to make known', which combined the prefix ad- (here 'to' or 'toward') with nuntiare, 'to report' or 'to deliver a message'. That second part came from nuntius, a 'messenger' or 'the news a messenger carries', so the literal idea was carrying word toward an audience. English took it in during the 1400s through Old French anoncier, and the modern spelling settled with the doubled n of the assimilated prefix and the -ounce ending borrowed from the French form. The same nuntius root quietly survives in relatives such as 'pronounce', 'denounce', and even 'nuncio', the title for a papal envoy. The spelling trap is purely the unstressed middle: writers must remember the silent shape of -nounce rather than the way it sounds.

How the word is built

• an- (from ad-: to, toward)
• nounce (from nuntiare: to report, bring news)