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Glite Dictionary
publishing conglomerate

publishing conglomerate

5.3
A large company that owns many smaller companies making books and magazines and runs them together
  • noun
  • /ˈpʌblɪʃɪŋ kənˈɡlɒmərɪt/
translation icon : conglomerado editorial
  • As one of the top publishing conglomerates, Penguin Random House releases a wide variety of books every season.
  • a Canadian publishing conglomerate

Examples

  • In an interview posted online, Allan Kornblum, publisher of Coffee House Press, explains why many independent publishers are thriving in the same climate that has crippled the publishing conglomerates: "First, we do all the little things right: our books come out on time; we get our review copies out to reviewers early; ... and our books are consistently well edited, designed, and produced.

    Academic text (2009)

  • I resent the huge publishing conglomerates as much as anyone, but I'm also insulted by those who think scholarly publishing is easy, cheap, or simple.

    Blog text (34)

  • Canadian publishing conglomerate Thomson owns West, and Dutch publishing firm Reed Elsevier now owns LexisNexis.

    Academic text (2004)

  • A part of West Group, which in turn is owned by the Canadian publishing conglomerate Thomson Corp., the research service developed its own citator to rival Shepard's.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The large publishing conglomerate announced its plans to expand into digital media this year.

  • Many authors struggle to get noticed in the vast market controlled by a few powerful publishing conglomerates.

Synonyms

conglomerate
vspublishing conglomerate
44 7.0

A large company made by joining several different companies in many industries

is specific to firms in the same industry rather than many industries
publishing empire
vspublishing conglomerate
1 5.1

A large group of companies owned by one person or company that make newspapers, magazines, and books

is the same idea but stresses formation by merger or acquisition

How Big

publishing conglomerate
5.3
vanity press
  • Jargon
1 8.2

Surface Forms

publishing conglomerate singular
publishing conglomerates plural

Morphology

publishing + conglomerate

The phrase is a straightforward composition of 'publishing' (the book/media business) and 'conglomerate' (a large corporate group), so its meaning — a large corporate group operating in the publishing sector — follows directly from the constituents. This noun–noun compound uses a standard, cross-linguistically common composition pattern that a B1 learner who knows both words should be able to understand.

Etymology

The phrase publishing conglomerate paints a picture of many small publishing companies joining together into one big conglomerate. So, it means 'a large company made by bringing several publishing businesses together'.