advert

advert — noun

1. a piece of text, sound, or video made to make people want to buy something, use

1.nounB1
Definition

a piece of text, sound, or video made to make people want to buy something, use a service, or apply for a job.

Example

We placed a small advert for a weekend cook in the village paper.

put/place an advert for + job/product

The station played the same advert for cheap flights every ten minutes.

radio or TV advert

Common collocations
  • put an advert in the paper
  • run an advert
  • job advert
  • TV advert
  • online advert
Synonyms
  • advertisement

    the full and more neutral form in both formal and informal use

  • ad

    shorter everyday form, especially common in American English

  • commercial

    mainly a TV or radio advert, not usually a printed job notice

Grammar Patterns

advert for + noun

put/run an advert

Usage Note

Mostly British and often slightly informal. American English usually prefers 'ad', while 'advertisement' is the full neutral form in both British and American English.

Common Mistakes

I saw an advert of a new phone.
I saw an advert for a new phone.
use 'for' before the product, service, or job being promoted.

advert — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

'Advertisement' is the full neutral word and fits formal writing, school essays, and business documents. 'Advert' is shorter, chiefly British, and a little more casual, so it sounds natural in UK speech and newspapers. 'Ad' is even shorter and is the everyday choice in American English, especially online: people talk about pop-up ads, video ads, and ad blockers. 'Commercial' is narrower than the other three. It usually means a paid advert on television or radio, not a poster on a wall or a job notice in a paper. So a British paper may carry a job advert, a website may show an ad, and children may watch a toy commercial between cartoons.

advert ↗advertisement ↗ad ↗commercial ↗

Etymology

LatinAnglo-FrenchEnglish

The verb 'advert' entered English in the 1400s through Anglo-French from Latin 'advertere', a verb meaning 'to turn toward'. That earlier idea of turning your mind toward something explains the formal verb sense 'notice' or 'refer to'. The noun is much newer: in the mid-1800s, British English began using 'advert' as a shortened form of 'advertisement'. So today's noun and verb share a spelling, but the short noun grew out of a different later development.