Definition of ADVERT

Did You Know?

Verb

You may be familiar with the noun "advert," which is used, especially in British sources, as a shortened form of "advertising." That's one way to use "advert," but it has also been used as a verb in English since the 15th century. There's a hint about the origin of the verb in the idea of "turning" the mind or attention to something; the word derives via Anglo-French from the Latin verb advertere, which in turn comes from Latin vertere, meaning "to turn." "Vertere" is the ancestor of a number of words in English, including "controversy," "divert," "invert," "revert," and even "versatile." In addition, we'd like to turn your attention to one particular ''vertere" descendant: avert, meaning "to avoid." Be careful to avoid mixing this one up with "advert."

Examples of advert in a Sentence

Noun

I saw your advert in the newspaper. busily perusing the job adverts in the Sunday Times

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

The company’s listed adverting policies don’t currently list the age restriction — that will change when the policy will take effect on June 21st. — Andrew Liptak, The Verge, "Facebook will stop showing minors ads for gun accessories," 17 June 2018 Digital-only advertising, however, was up nearly 10 percent in 2017, largely offsetting the impact of the softening print adverting declines on total digital advertising. — Mark Glover, sacbee, "McClatchy boosts digital audience, advertising revenue in 2017 | The Sacramento Bee," 16 Feb. 2018 Donations also go toward adverting campaigns like radio ads to help get the word out about their mission needs. — Birmingham Magazine, AL.com, "Jimmie Hale Mission nears 75th year serving Birmingham," 19 Dec. 2017 Yet to advert to rules of tonal consistency is to impose an external, puristic point of view on material that is wonderfully motley and personal. — Jesse Green, New York Times, "Review: ‘Bubbly Black Girl’ Lets a Smile Be Her Camouflage," 27 July 2017

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

That may seem pretentious for a mobile provider, but the advert is part of Iliad’s entry into Italy, which began on May 29th. — The Economist, "A maverick French telecoms firm attempts Italian conquest," 21 June 2018 The stations are like works of art completely unspoiled by any adverts. — SI.com, "90min World Cup Fan Diaries: From Russia With Love," 9 July 2018 At the airport, passengers underwent obligatory temperature screenings, while Congo’s public-health ministry ran radio adverts telling people in Mbandaka to not shake hands, relief officials said. — Nicholas Bariyo, WSJ, "Ebola Vaccination Begins in Democratic Republic of Congo," 21 May 2018 Still, this is not an advert for the superiority of the English. — CBS News, "America and England, separated by a common language," 13 May 2018 After 150 years the trust is now one of the better adverts for active management. — The Economist, "A Victorian survivor in fund management," 18 Apr. 2018 Pepsi stars including Lionel Messi and Toni Kroos have appeared in a brilliant new advert featuring a street paint-football fight. — SI.com, "VIDEO: Pepsi Stars Including Lionel Messi and Toni Kroos Paint the World Blue in Stunning New Advert," 6 Mar. 2018 Cars are worldwide road-going adverts for the national brand. — The Economist, "Last lap of luxuryGerman cars have the most to lose from changes facing the auto industry," 1 Mar. 2018 Ducey, meanwhile, helped Uber deal with other officials in Arizona, issued decrees that were friendly to the company, tweeted out an advert at the company’s request, and even seems to have been open to wearing an Uber T-shirt at an official event. — Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, "Uber scaled back the number of sensors on its self-driving cars: report," 28 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'advert.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for advert

Verb

Middle English averten, adverten "to notice, think of, consider, be heedful," borrowed from Anglo-French avertir, advertir "to notify, (reflexive) recognize, be mindful of," going back to Vulgar Latin *advertīre, alteration (by conjugational shift) of Latin advertere "to turn or direct toward, direct (attention) toward, pay heed (to), attract the attention of," from ad- ad- + vertere "to turn" — more at worth entry 4

Noun

by shortening