pagination

American  

[paj-uh-ney-shuhn] / ˌpædʒ əˈneɪ ʃən /

noun

1. Bibliography. the number of pages or leaves of a book, manuscript, etc., identified in bibliographical description or cataloging.

2. the figures by which pages are marked to indicate their sequence.

3. the act of paginating.

4. Printing.

   1. Also called computer-assisted makeup.  a method of computerized page makeup in which copy and graphic elements are manipulated with the aid of a video display terminal.

   2. composition.

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Other Word Forms

• mispagination noun
• repagination noun

Etymology

Origin of pagination

1835–45; < Latin pāgin(a) page ¹ + -ation

Explanation

Pagination is the process of putting numbers on successive pages of a book, and it's also the sequence of numbers itself. Without pagination, it would be hard to know how many pages of "Moby Dick" you have left to read. Pagination is important, especially when two or more people discuss a book — you can say, "I love what happens on page 94," and the members of your book group will turn to page 94, thanks to pagination. Pagination can be as easy as clicking "print" and watching your printer automatically number each page of your essay. Before the invention of the printing press, all pagination had to be done by hand, no matter how long the document.

Example Sentences

They thumb through pages to make sure the ink density is proper, that the color is in registration, the margins are set, pagination perfect, date accurate.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2024

Mr. Wong, who initially studied engineering in college and described himself as “kind of a techie,” helped install new pagination systems early in his journalism career.

From Washington Post • Dec. 7, 2022

Duncan gives a surprisingly vivid explanation of how the two foundations of the contemporary index — alphabetical order and pagination — themselves had to be invented.

From New York Times • Feb. 9, 2022

As a matter of fact, Women in the World follows very much what I think of as the pagination of a magazine.

From Salon • Feb. 11, 2019

Per curiam, 169 F. R. 386 Affirming that arrangement of cases in sequence, pagination, etc., are not protectable details, 259 1909 Bong v.

From Copyright: Its History and Its Law by Bowker, Richard Rogers