notice

Alternative forms

• not. (abbreviation)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French notice, from the Latin notitia.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnəʊtɪs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnoʊtɪs/, [ˈnoʊɾɪs]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: no‧tice

Noun

notice (plural notices)

1. (chiefly uncountable) The act of observing; perception.

   He took no notice of the changes, and went on as though nothing had happened.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square, OCLC 16832619, page 16:

     Athelstan Arundel walked home […], foaming and raging. […] He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.

   • Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

     How ready is envy to mingle with the notices we take of other persons?

2. (countable) A written or printed announcement.

   Shall we post a notice about the new policy?

   I always read the death notices in the paper.

3. (countable) A formal notification or warning.

   The sidewalk adjacent to the damaged bridge stonework shall be closed until further notice.

4. (chiefly uncountable) Advance notification of termination of employment, given by an employer to an employee or vice versa.

   I gave her her mandatory two weeks' notice and sacked her.

   I can't work here any longer. I'm giving notice.

5. (countable) A published critical review of a play or the like.(Can we add an example for this sense?)
6. (uncountable) Prior notification.

   I don't mind if you want to change the venue; just give me some notice first, OK?

   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

     I […] have given him notice that the Duke of Cornwall and Regan his duchess will be here.

7. (dated) Attention; respectful treatment; civility.

Verb

notice (third-person singular simple present notices, present participle noticing, simple past and past participle noticed)

1. (transitive) To acknowledge the presence of; observe.
   • 1991, Gregory Widen, Backdraft

     So you punched out a window for ventilation. Was that before or after you noticed you were standing in a lake of gasoline?

   • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

     [The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].

   Did you notice the flowers in her yard?

2. (transitive) To detect; to perceive with the mind.

   I noticed that the dog hadn't barked the night of the murder.

3. (transitive) To lavish attention upon.

   • She would notice her; she would improve her; she would detach her from her bad acquaintance, and introduce her into good society; she would form her opinions and her manners. Jane Austen Emma, Vol. I, Ch. 3 (1815).

Anagrams

• conite, noetic

Etymology

From Latin notitia

Noun

notice f (plural notices)

1. instruction

   Avez-vous lu la notice avant de monter le meuble?

Further reading

• “notice” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).