Announcement

How to spell announcement

12 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce announcement

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does announcement mean?

1. nounA formal public or written statement giving notice of something.

Announcement in a sentence

• The company made an announcement about the new factory.

• Passengers waited for the boarding announcement at the gate.

Where does announcement come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb annuntiare, meaning 'to report' or 'to bring news', which combined the prefix ad- ('to' or 'toward') with nuntiare ('to announce or declare'), itself built on nuntius, a 'messenger'. The same nuntius root still hides inside words like 'nuncio', the title of a papal envoy, and 'pronounce'. English took the verb 'announce' from Old French anoncier in the late Middle Ages, and the noun 'announcement' was formed later, around the eighteenth century, by adding the French-derived suffix -ment, which marks the act or result of doing something. The spelling trap sits in the middle: the doubled n of 'announce' comes from the Latin ad- assimilating into the following n, and the silent-feeling -ounce- often tempts writers to drop a letter. Remembering the messenger (nuntius) at its heart helps fix the -nounce- spelling in mind.

How the word is built

• an- (toward, from Latin ad-)
• nounce (from nuntiare: to report, declare)
• -ment (noun-forming suffix: act or result of)