What does newsletter mean?
A newsletter is a document that delivers news, information, or commentary to its readers, usually at regular intervals and often by email. Its contents may cover a broad range of subjects or focus on the activities of a particular organization, such as a charity, school, company, club, or local government. The word is also used for an individual email in a recurring mailing, making it common in discussions of subscriptions, signups, campaigns, and audience engagement. Although newsletters can be printed and sent by post, digital versions are now particularly widespread. The term once referred primarily to a printed sheet that circulated news; its established meaning expanded naturally as electronic distribution became common. Its usefulness lies in combining the regularity of a periodical with the directness of a message addressed to a selected audience.
nounA regularly published printed or electronic document that provides news, information, or commentary to a defined readership. The term is also used for an individual email or electronic publication sent periodically to subscribers.
- A printed or electronic periodical issued at regular intervals to a defined readership.
- An individual electronic message containing news, announcements, or information and sent to subscribers or recipients.
"The charity publishes a monthly newsletter about its conservation projects."
"She added the museum to the newsletter mailing list."
"The club distributed its latest newsletter to members by email."
"An old copy of the newspaper contained an advertisement for a weekly newsletter."
Use the plural when referring to multiple publications or individual mailings.
"The organization sends newsletters to subscribers every Friday."
Before email, a newsletter was literally a sheet carrying the news: the word long outlived the printed format that gave it its name.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of newsletter
Newsletter is a compound of the English words news and letter. The term was used in the early modern period for a printed sheet circulated to convey news, long before newsletters were sent electronically. News itself comes from new, while letter has its roots in Latin littera, a term for writing or a written character.
How newsletter is actually used
In contemporary use, the word often denotes an email publication, although printed newsletters remain common in organizations, schools, clubs, and local communities. It normally refers to a regularly issued publication rather than a single urgent news report.