word for word

American  

adverb

1. in exactly the same words; verbatim.

2. one word at a time, without regard for the sense of the whole.

   She translated the book word for word.

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word for word Idioms  

1. Exactly as written or spoken, as in That was the forecast, word for word. Chaucer used this idiom in the late 1300s.

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Other Word Forms

• word-for-word
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of word for word

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

Example Sentences

Word for word, it was the Dingell speech.

From Time Magazine Archive

Word for word, it follows "An Open Letter to American Students" by Dwight D. Eisenhower, published in the October 1948 Reader's Digest.

From Time Magazine Archive

Word for word, the same notice passed around several offices in the New York State Assembly two years ago.

From Time Magazine Archive

Word for word, A Season in Hell is one of the best�and most encouraging�books on mental illness yet written.

From Time Magazine Archive

Word for word," said Gilbert, "it was this: 'My dear Miss Warren—You were right about the flower.

From Options by Henry, O.