Words / B2

s-uh-b-SKRYB/səbˈskraɪb/

To subscribe is to pay to receive a service, or to agree with an idea: subscribe to a claim; subscribe to a journal. Sign up is everyday; agree is the idea twin. Do not subscribe to the claim until it is repeated. Noun: subscriber (already elsewhere); subscription. Mix-up: ascribe is to attribute; describe is to say what something is like. Do not write subscribe for “describe”.

Meaning

To pay to receive a paper, service, or magazine; also to agree with an idea (subscribe to).

Examples

• “Do not subscribe to the claim until a second lab repeats it.”
• “The library does not subscribe to that journal, which is the payment sense.”

Good to know

subscribe to + idea / service; a subscription. Everyday: sign up. Trap: ascribe / describe. Methods, media, and libraries. Pay or agree, not “attribute”.

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