: one that publishes something
especially : a person or corporation whose business is publishing

Examples of publisher in a Sentence

He submitted the manuscript to publishers of children's books.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Marathon is also the next game from Bungie, the makers of the legendary shooters Halo and Destiny (two franchises that, ironically, the COD publisher Activision has its tendrils in). — Jordan Minor, PC Magazine, 26 Oct. 2026 Busch, a renowed music rights lawyer, previously sued Anthropic on behalf of Round Hill Music, an independent publisher, for $1 billion in August for allegedly illegally scraping hundreds of songs without permission. — Corbin Bolies, Variety, 26 Oct. 2026 Although major labels and music publishers have filed claims against Anthropic before, Authentic Brands Group’s lawsuit is one of the first high-profile cases wherein the owner of a single artist’s catalog sued for copyright infringement. — Hattie Lindert, Pitchfork, 25 Oct. 2026 Insiders cited broad industry-wide online traffic problems plaguing numerous online publishers, including Meta’s decision to deprioritize links to news articles and the rise of chatbots and AI summaries, which have decimated search traffic. — Max Tani, semafor.com, 25 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for publisher

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, "person who makes something generally known," from publisshen "to make known, publish" + -er -er entry 2

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of publisher was in the 15th century

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Publisher.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/publisher. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Kids Definition

publisher

noun
: one that publishes
especially : one that sends out and offers for sale printed matter (as books, magazines, or newspapers)
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster