billboard

billboard — noun

1. a huge outdoor sign, usually placed beside a highway or on the wall of a tall bu

1.nounB1
Definition

a huge outdoor sign, usually placed beside a highway or on the wall of a tall building, that shows paid advertising messages to people passing by.

Example

A giant billboard near the airport showed a smiling tourist holding a beach umbrella.

noun phrase: a giant billboard

Fadi saw a huge billboard for the new pizza shop as she drove down Main Street.

collocation: a billboard for [product]

Common collocations
  • giant billboard
  • digital billboard
  • billboard advertising
  • put up a billboard
Synonyms
  • hoarding

    British English for the same roadside sign

  • poster

    smaller, can be indoors; less formal advertising

  • signboard

    general word for any board with information, not always advertising

Grammar Patterns

a billboard for + noun

on a billboard

Usage Note

Subject is usually an inanimate object (sign, board) or the company that buys the space. Frequently appears with prepositions 'on a billboard' (the surface) and 'for X' (the product advertised).

Common Mistakes

I saw an advertisement on a big billboard paper.
I saw an advertisement on a big billboard.
a billboard is the whole sign, not the paper or poster on it.

2. a printed picture displayed in front of a cinema, theatre, or concert hall to an

2.nounB2
Definition

a printed picture displayed in front of a cinema, theatre, or concert hall to announce which movie, stage show, or concert is currently being performed there.

Example

The billboard outside the old theatre showed Ilya dressed as Juliet under a moon.

collocation: billboard outside [venue]

Fans gathered around the billboard for the new Marvel film at the cinema entrance.

collocation: billboard for [film/play]

Common collocations
  • billboard for the film
  • billboard outside the cinema
  • theatre billboard
Synonyms
  • poster

    more general; smaller and can be indoors

  • playbill

    specifically for theatre productions

  • marquee

    the lit sign above a cinema or theatre, often with the show title

Grammar Patterns

a billboard for + noun

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1: this sense is tied to entertainment venues (cinema, theatre) and shows a single show's poster, not a paid roadside ad. Often used with 'outside' or 'in front of' a named venue.

Common Mistakes

There was a billboard for shampoo outside the cinema.
There was a billboard for the new film outside the cinema.
sense 2 is for entertainment shows, not general products.

billboard — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words name a flat surface that carries a public message, but they differ in size, location, and region. A 'billboard' is large, outdoors, and almost always carries paid advertising — typically beside a highway or on the side of a tall building. 'Hoarding' is the British English word for the very same object; an American calls it a billboard, a Briton a hoarding. A 'poster' is much smaller, often paper, and can hang indoors (on a wall, in a shop, in a station) — it may advertise but can also announce a concert, lecture, or political message. A 'signboard' is the most general term: any board displaying information, including shop names or directions, not necessarily advertising. So a shop's name above its door is a signboard; a movie ad on Highway 5 is a billboard; the same ad on a corridor wall is a poster.

billboard ↗hoardingposter ↗signboard

Common collocations

Nouns

  • billboard advertising
  • billboard campaign
  • digital billboard
  • highway billboard
  • billboard space

Adverbs

Phrases

  • put up a billboard
  • rent billboard space
  • feature on a billboard

Prepositions

  • on a billboard
  • billboard for
  • billboard outside
  • billboard above

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishAmerican English

Formed in mid-19th-century American English from 'bill' (meaning a printed public notice or poster, a sense going back to Latin 'bulla' through Old French 'bulle') plus 'board' (a flat wooden surface). A billboard was first simply a board on which paper bills were pasted up. The verb sense (to promote loudly) developed later in the 20th century, treating the noun as something one could do to a product.