What does publicity mean?
Word: Publicity
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Publicity means the attention that a person, event or product gets from newspapers, television and the internet.
Synonyms: promotion
Word origin: From French, from Latin publicus.
How do you spell publicity?
Syllables: pub - lic - i - ty
Tricky part: The s sound before the ending is really a c, and students who write publisity lose the link with the word it grows from.
Watch out for: publisity, pubblicity, pablicity
Memory tip: Public attention is what this word is about, so hold on to the c of public.
Publicity in a sentence
Example 1: The film's makers arranged plenty of publicity before its release in Mumbai.
Example 2: The young chess champion from Chennai got a lot of publicity after her win.
Example 3: Free publicity from a local radio show filled the book fair on Sunday.
Fun Fact
People in show business like the saying that there is no such thing as bad publicity, meaning that any attention helps; not everyone agrees.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Champ
Choose the correct option to make a meaningful word:
public___
a) aty
b) ity
c) ety
d) oty
Show answer
b) ity. Electricity and simplicity are two more nouns built with this suffix.
Spell Spies
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) broadcast
b) journalist
c) publicity
d) advertisment
Show answer
d) advertisment. The noun keeps the e of advertise before its ending.
Word Puzzle
Match each word with its opposite:
1. publicity 2. scarce 3. modest a. plentiful b. boastful c. secrecy
a) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a
b) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c
c) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
d) 1-a, 2-b, 3-c
Show answer
c) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b. Secrecy hides what publicity spreads, plentiful is the reverse of scarce, and a boastful person is not modest.
Word Tally
How many words are misspelt in the given sentence?
The publicity for our school's anual fete reached the whole neighbourhood, and the comittee was delighted.
a) 3
b) 2
c) 4
d) 1
Show answer
b) 2. Annual needs another n and committee another m; the remaining words are fine.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these is the best example of publicity for a school play?
a) a costume stored in the cupboard
b) a rehearsal in the school hall
c) a script kept in the staff room
d) a report about it in the local paper
Show answer
d) a report about it in the local paper
2. A museum's publicity officer is most likely to spend the day ___.
a) mending the old display cases
b) telling reporters about new shows
c) guiding tour groups round the halls
d) counting coins in the ticket office
Show answer
b) telling reporters about new shows
