Adware

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈædˌwɛə/

Definitions

1. A form of software that generates advertisements on a device, often without user consent, aiming for profit through these unsolicited promotions
2. Programs designed to show promotional content on a computer or device, typically without the user's request
3. Software that automatically delivers advertisements, often interrupting or overlaying user activities

Etymology: Adware is a blend of two English building blocks, "ad" (short for advertisement) and "-ware," the suffix that made "software" and "hardware" familiar. The "ware" part goes back to Old English "waru," meaning goods or merchandise, which is why it came to mean manufactured articles of a kind, from "tableware" to computer programs. Joining it to "ad" produced a label for advertising that arrives as a piece of software rather than as a poster or a pop-up in a magazine. Its shape is a clue to its age. Advertisement itself came into English from Old French "avertissement," and was later cut down to "ad," a clipping that has been in use since the nineteenth century. The compound "adware" only appeared once personal computers were common enough for unwanted advertising programs to matter, so it is a late formation built from very old parts.

Synonyms: advertising software