/ad vuys"/ , n.
1. an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct, etc.: I shall act on your advice.
2. a communication, esp. from a distance, containing information: Advice from abroad informs us that the government has fallen. Recent diplomatic advices have been ominous.
3. an official notification, esp. one pertaining to a business agreement: an overdue advice.
[ 1250-1300; late ME advise; r. ME avis (with ad- AD- for a- A- 5 ) a vis (taken from the phrase ce m'est a vis that is my impression, it seems to me) ad (see AD-) + visus (see VISAGE) ]
Syn. 1. admonition, warning, caution; guidance; urging. ADVICE, COUNSEL, RECOMMENDATION, SUGGESTION, PERSUASION, EXHORTATION refer to opinions urged with more or less force as worthy bases for thought, opinion, conduct, or action. ADVICE is a practical recommendation as to action or conduct: advice about purchasing land. COUNSEL is weighty and serious advice, given after careful deliberation: counsel about one's career. RECOMMENDATION is weaker than advice and suggests an opinion that may or may not be acted upon: Do you think he'll follow my recommendation?
SUGGESTION implies something more tentative than a recommendation: He did not expect his suggestion to be taken seriously. PERSUASION suggests a stronger form of advice, urged at some length with appeals to reason, emotion, self-interest, or ideals: His persuasion changed their minds. EXHORTATION suggests an intensified persuasion or admonition, often in the form of a discourse or address: an impassioned exhortation. 2. intelligence, word. 3. notice, advisory.