Does register and subscribe mean the same thing?
While register and subscribe could be considered synonyms, they do have slightly different meanings and applications.
Register
This word is both a noun and verb which helps us understand the difference to subscribe.
The noun register refers to some official list that holds the same kind of information for many different people or things. For example a Birth Register at a hospital.
- I cannot find your name in our Birth Register, are you sure you have the correct date?
- When you get married, it will be recorded in our Marriage register.
The verb register is the action of having something placed into a record.
- Please register today’s date and time into the birth records for this newborn child.
- Please register our marriage for your records.
Subscribe
Subscribe is a verb. It is the action of requesting to receive something on a regular basis, such as a magazine or other service, this is then called a Subscription (noun). A subscription can be canceled or deleted.
- I would like to subscribe to your internet service.
- I am interested in subscribing to your online magazine.
Although much less frequent, it can also be used more conversationally when speaking about a point of view and whether we agree or not.
- I do not subscribe to the Presidents opinion about the situation.
- I subscribe to the theory of relativity.
If you were to use these words as synonyms, it would be more appropriate to do so with things of lesser importance, here is an example.
- I would like to register for the library service.
- I would like to subscribe to the library service.
Hope that helps answer your question!