Meaning & use
Publishment
Last updated
A historical legal term for the public announcement of an intended marriage before the wedding took place.
See it in a sentence
The town clerk recorded the couple's publishment three weeks before the ceremony.
Colonial New England law required a publishment posted at the meetinghouse.
A note on using this word
This sense survives mainly in genealogical and historical records from colonial New England, where it served the same function as the reading of marriage "banns" in English church tradition.
Words with a similar meaning
banns
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