news

news, tidings, intelligence, advice are comparable when they designate a report or the reports of occurrences and conditions not previously known.

News stresses novelty and freshness of information

{

the gossip was not news to her

}

{

the letter contained no news

}

{

wanted to tell her as quickly as he could his evil news— Buck

}

Since news is specifically applied to the information disseminated through public media (as radio and journals) shortly after the incidents have occurred, it also often implies distribution, even in its general sense

{

experts in handling news

}

or when used in combination

{

newspaper

}

{

news-mongers

}

Tidings, which may be singular in construction, is somewhat bookish; it is often appropriate when it refers to news orally communicated or disseminated (as by a herald or messenger)

{

must have a courier who will carry the tidings of distress to those who are there to save when signals reach their ears— Cardozo

}

{

no trace or tidings of Lynchehaun was ever found— Rooney

}

Intelligence stresses the desirability or the practical value of the information rather than its freshness

{

their visits to Mrs. Philips were now productive of the most interesting intelligence— Austen

}

In specific military use intelligence suggests clandestine methods of gathering information (as by secret agents). It is therefore applied not only to the information gathered but to the branch of the service commissioned to gather it

{

an enemy superior in numbers, who possessed also the advantage in armament, position, and more accurate intelligence— Buchan

}

In comparison with intelligence, which often suggests the gathering of important information, advice stresses the transmission of information and implies the immediacy of its value. It, or its plural advices, is often applied to the means (as letters, telegrams, or messengers) by which this information is communicated

{

no doubt he had advices that Casale was sufficiently provisioned to last for many months, perhaps a year— Belloc

}

{

beginning their advices with the revelation that a rich potential for future prosperity and happiness had been discovered in atomic energy— Burlingame

}