inscribe

American  

[in-skrahyb] / ɪnˈskraɪb /

verb (used with object)

inscribed, inscribing

1. to address or dedicate (a book, photograph, etc.) informally to a person, especially by writing a brief personal note in or on it.

2. to mark (a surface) with words, characters, etc., especially in a durable or conspicuous way.

3. to write, print, mark, or engrave (words, characters, etc.).

4. to enroll, as on an official list.

5. Geometry. to draw or delineate (one figure) within another figure so that the inner lies entirely within the boundary of the outer, touching it at as many points as possible.

   to inscribe a circle in a square.

6. British.

   1. to issue (a loan) in the form of shares with registered stockholders.

   2. to sell (stocks).

   3. to buy (stocks).

---

inscribe British  

/ ɪnˈskraɪb /

verb

1. to make, carve, or engrave (writing, letters, a design, etc) on (a surface such as wood, stone, or paper)

2. to enter (a name) on a list or in a register

3. to sign one's name on (a book, photograph, etc) before presentation to another person

4. to draw (a geometric construction such as a circle, polygon, etc) inside another construction so that the two are in contact but do not intersect Compare circumscribe

---

Other Word Forms

• inscribable
  adjective
• inscribableness
  noun
• inscriber
  noun
• preinscribe
  verb (used with object)
• reinscribe
  verb (used with object)
• superinscribe
  verb (used with object)
• uninscribed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of inscribe

1545–55; < Latin inscrībere, equivalent to in- in- ² + scrībere to write; see scribe ¹

Explanation

To inscribe means to write something in a permanent or formal way. When you have a jeweler inscribe your initials inside your new ring, she uses a machine to carve them into the metal. A stone carver might inscribe your grandfather's name on a memorial stone, and your best friend might inscribe his name and a favorite quote in the back of your yearbook. In geometry, to inscribe is to fit one shape inside another, like when a triangle fits neatly inside a circle with its points just touching the perimeter. The Latin root of inscribe is inscribere, "to write in or on."

Example Sentences

“Take it down now,” wrote the Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Put it in a museum. Inscribe beneath it the years 1861-2015. Move forward…Save your lovely souls.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 19, 2015

Inscribe one with “ayubowan,” a Sinhalese salutation that means “May you live a long life.”

From New York Times • Jan. 21, 2010

What legends do the dawns Inscribe in fire on Heaven's azure leaves, The red sun colophons?

From Weeds by the Wall Verses by Cawein, Madison Julius

Inscribe above your desk the words of Rivarol, "Genius is only great patience."

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 54, April, 1862 by Various

To The Women of the South I Inscribe This Volume They have lost a cause, but they have made a triumph!

From War Poetry of the South by Various

Related Words

• carve
• engrave
• etch