Definition, synonyms and related words
A type of electronic mailing list, allowing for distribution of email to many subscribers.
"The professor announced that all course announcements would be sent via listserv to ensure every student received the updates immediately."
In plain English: A listserv is an email group where people subscribe to receive messages sent by everyone else on that specific topic list.
"She subscribed to an astronomy listserv to receive daily updates on new telescope discoveries."
Usage: Use this term specifically for automated academic or professional discussion groups rather than general social media threads. It is often misspelled as "listserver," though the former remains the standard in technical contexts.
The word listserv is a clipped form of listserver that entered English as a shorthand term for an electronic mailing list managed by software. It was first used to describe the popular early internet tool that allowed groups to share messages efficiently.