excerpt
Americannoun
-
excerpts
plural
verb (used with object)
-
excerpts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
excerpted,
past participle, past
-
excerpting
present participle
-
to take or select (a passage) from a book, film, or the like; extract.
-
to take or select passages from (a book, film, or the like); abridge by choosing representative sections.
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
excerptsimple
-
excerptssimple
-
have excerptedperfect
-
has excerptedperfect
-
am excerptingprogressive
-
are excerptingprogressive
-
is excerptingprogressive
-
have been excerptingperfect progressive
-
has been excerptingperfect progressive
Past
-
excerptedsimple
-
had excerptedperfect
-
was excerptingprogressive
-
were excerptingprogressive
-
had been excerptingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of excerpt
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin excerptus “picked out,” past participle of excerpere “to pick out, pluck out,” from ex- ex- 1 + -cerpere, combining form of carpere “to pluck”
Explanation
Instead of sharing all 147 lines of your favorite poem in class, you might want to read an excerpt, that is, just a part of the verses, so no one dozes off. Excerpt sounds a lot like "except" with an added "r," and it came into English in the 16th century from a Latin word meaning "plucked out." When the word is used as a verb, excerpt means to take a portion out, usually from a play, book, article, song, or other written work. And the part that is taken out also is called an excerpt, but it is a noun, that is, a thing. An excerpt is something you excerpt, or pluck out, from a larger piece.
Vocabulary lists containing excerpt
Power Prefix: ex-
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
STAAR Grade 8 Reading: The Language of the Test, List 1
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
The following excerpt of their conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
The Canadian director is also the last voice you hear on Music, Fashion, Film, in an excerpt of an "hour-long" conversation he had with Charli last year,.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
National Prayer Breakfast, as highlighted in the excerpt above.
From Salon ● May 29, 2026
Each tile plays a short excerpt and the full title can be accessed on the Audible app.
From Barron's ● May 2, 2026
One thing we had going for us was an excerpt from this book that ran in Rolling Stone in April 1999.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
Plaid Cymru, newly installed in government in Wales, is still experimenting with its approach, using First Minister Rhun Ap Iorweth in "fun" memes while also posting more serious interview excerpts.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
"But some survive as copies or excerpts. Two excerpts from this particular letter survive in collections of papal rescripts."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
"Miraculously, just a few days shy of my 12th birthday, I spoke," he writes in the book, excerpts of which were published by The New York Times.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Paul released excerpts from said diary earlier this week.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026
Here are excerpts from three of Ruess’s letters: I have been thinking more and more that I shall always be a lone wanderer of the wilderness.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
A portion of their conversation, edited and condensed for clarity, has been excerpted below.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
This essay is excerpted from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2026
But his brother Craig’s memorializing of him, “Armed Only With a Camera,” is oddly uninvolving, more an excerpted flipbook of Brent’s far-flung assignments than a meaningful portrait of excelling at a dangerous job.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
These reports, excerpted and edited by Barron’s, were issued recently by investment and research firms.
From Barron's ● Dec. 6, 2025
Mullen examined the tapes and excerpted all references to the candidates, until he had 37 separate segments, each roughly two and a half seconds long.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
Cowley worked his magic again in launching Jack Kerouac’s career, spending years talking up and excerpting “On the Road” in magazines before publishing the 1957 Beat touchstone with Viking to immediate acclaim.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
They also build on something search engines have already been doing, excerpting the most essential parts of existing content to save you a click.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 15, 2023
Prosecutors leaned heavily on exchanges between Leopold and Edwards, excerpting from messages that suggested the relationship overstepped the traditional bounds of reporter and source.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 8, 2021
The couple met in 2012 in New York over a lunch to discuss the possibility of excerpting books published by Ms. Heimert’s company in the pages of The Journal’s weekend section.
From New York Times ● Nov. 12, 2017
Pending these futile negotiations Schiller worked with great zest upon 'Demetrius ',—reading, excerpting, examining maps and pictures, schematizing, balancing possibilities, and so forth.
From The Life and Works of Friedrich Schiller by Calvin Thomas
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.
