Publicity is public attention deliberately attracted to somebody or something. Good publicity, a publicity campaign, avoid publicity.
It differs from advertising in being unpaid: publicity is coverage you get, advertising is space you buy. A publicist arranges it. The word is neutral about whether the attention is welcome — bad publicity is a fixed phrase, and there is no such thing as bad publicity is a saying that public relations people know to be false. Note publicity stunt, meaning something done purely to be noticed.
1nounpublicityPublic attention deliberately attracted to somebody or something.
“The publicity was worth more than the prize money.”
publicity is public attention.
French publicité comes from Latin publicus, belonging to the people — the same root as public, publish and republic. Publicity is literally the state of being made public.
Latin
pūblicus — public, general
Medieval Latin
pūblicitātem
French
publicité
English, today
publicity
From French publicité, From Medieval Latin pūblicitātem, accusative singular of pūblicitās, from Latin pūblicus (“public, general”). Morphologically public + ity.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA