News — but old, formal, almost ceremonial news. Nobody says it at breakfast. You meet it in the Bible, in old stories, in poetry, and above all in the Christmas carol line "tidings of comfort and joy", which is where most learners first hear it. It is always plural in form and takes a plural verb: "the tidings were good". It usually comes with a word telling you whether the news is good or bad — glad tidings, sad tidings, ill tidings. Because it sounds so grand, modern speakers reach for it on purpose to sound funny or dramatic: an office worker walking in with a printed email might announce "I bring tidings" precisely because the word is far too big for the moment. If you use it in ordinary conversation without that joking tone, you will sound like a character in a play.