rewrite
Americanverb (used with object)
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rewrites,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rewrote,
past
-
rewritten,
past participle
-
rewriting
present participle
-
to write in a different form or manner; revise.
to rewrite the entire book.
-
to write again.
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to write (news submitted by a reporter) for inclusion in a newspaper.
noun
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rewrites
plural
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the news story rewritten.
-
something written in a different form or manner; revision.
They loved the rewrite, and said it would be a blockbuster!
verb
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to write (written material) again, esp changing the words or form
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computing to return (data) to a store when it has been erased during reading
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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rewritesimple
-
rewritessimple
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have rewrittenperfect
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has rewrittenperfect
-
am rewritingprogressive
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are rewritingprogressive
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is rewritingprogressive
-
have been rewritingperfect progressive
-
has been rewritingperfect progressive
Past
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rewrotesimple
-
had rewrittenperfect
-
was rewritingprogressive
-
were rewritingprogressive
-
had been rewritingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rewrite
Explanation
When you rewrite something, you start from scratch, writing it again to improve it. You might decide to rewrite a poem after your entire poetry class seems confused by your original version. A newspaper editor might instruct a reporter to rewrite her story, approaching it from a new angle or including more interviews. To rewrite something is to edit it, but the word implies making significant changes — or even starting all over again with a blank piece of paper or computer screen. You can call the new version itself a rewrite too. In journalism, it was once common for a "rewrite man" to work crafting new stories out of other people's reporting.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It took more than three years of work, including a complete rewrite of the script and Croft's dialogue, now voiced by the British actress Alix Wilton Regan.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
In his campaign for the top Fed job, Warsh said he was open to a rewrite of the accord, but he hasn’t given any specifics.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
Those arguments haven’t satisfied an array of activists, who urged the council to rewrite the agreement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
"No bank or mortgage lender could retrospectively rewrite the terms of a loan like that. It simply wouldn't be allowed. So why should the government be able to do it?"
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
I remember Ama’s words about using my power to rewrite the future.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
"The study rewrites the timeline for the koala's genetic history in Australia," says PhD student Toby Kovacs, who led the research.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
It also says proposed amendments have to go through the Legislature twice, with an election in between, giving voters another chance to be heard on constitutional rewrites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
In situations when clients wanted more-substantial rewrites, I could charge a few hundred dollars for an essay.
From Slate ● Mar. 20, 2026
He doesn’t just distract – he rewrites the story in real time, making the serious seem trivial, and the trivial seem epochal.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2025
He was in final rewrites for a book about his first Arctic expedition; she was finishing prior séance commitments.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Congress rewrote the charitable-deduction rules, effective Jan. 1, 2026, with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and every change pushed value away from the deduction and toward your adjusted gross income.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
Quentin Tarantino told Variety he had a production designer track one down for an opening shot of “Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood” at the Chinese Theatre before he rewrote the script.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
But the numbers already racked up by Sinner show how he is undoubtedly tracking Djokovic, Nadal and Federer - who became known as the 'Big Three' as they rewrote the record books.
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
“The bill rewrote the math on charitable giving,” says Kevin Knull, chief executive officer of TaxStatus.
From Barron's ● May 9, 2026
Emma rewrote awkward sentences, and if she didn’t understand what he was trying to say, they talked it through so that he could write it in a more lucid fashion.
From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman
A judge ruled the legislature’s summary unfair and ordered it rewritten.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
Both candidates said there was potential grounds for a legal challenge to the rewritten duties.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
The rules of international trade are being rewritten.
From Slate ● Jun. 23, 2026
But ever since the laws of the game were rewritten in 1997 to prohibit challenging the keeper mid-catch, the man between the sticks has become a protected species.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
By early July 1844, he had expanded and rewritten the rough pencil draft.
From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman
I watched a sixth-round afterthought — the 199th pick in the draft, a kid nobody had wanted on their team — walk onto the field and start rewriting what was possible.
From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026
In a city that had manifested an entire industry out of rewriting stories, I wondered whether the secret was simply to write a new one for myself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
According to Pangram, A.I.-assisted writing “is text a person wrote partly with help from an AI tool—for example, editing or rewriting parts.”
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
Magyar has estimated rewriting the constitution would take one or one and a half years, promising to launch consultations on it next month.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
I hugged her and then got to work rewriting everything I remembered from my old book.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
