Dictionary.com
definitions

excerpt

[noun ek-surpt; verb ik-surpt, ek-surpt]
||
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR excerpt ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a passage or quotation taken or selected from a book, document, film, or the like; extract.

verb (used with object)

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.

RELATED CONTENT

Around the Web: Nobels, Twitter and Dying Alphabets
It’s prize time! Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Eleanor Catton won the Man Booker Prize, and the National Book Award finalists were announced (with free excerpts). And now a look at words in the wild: Auto-antonyms and other unusuable terms. Twitter founders used a print dictionary to determine the now-ubiquitous brand name. #longreads Ben Schott makes up 17 funny and useful words based on …
READ MORE
A History Of Dictionary.com’s Word Of The Year
Read more in this article about some frequently asked questions and fun facts related to our definitions.
READ MORE

RELATED WORDS

selection, fragment, passage, portion, piece, extract, quotation, cull, glean, saying, notation, quote, section, note, part, choose, pick, cite, select, pericope

Origin of excerpt

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin excerptus (past participle of excerpere to pick out, pluck out), equivalent to ex- ex-1 + -cerp- (combining form of carpere to pluck) + -tus past participle suffix
Related formsex·cerpt·er, ex·cerp·tor, nounex·cerpt·i·ble, adjectiveex·cerp·tion, nounun·ex·cerpt·ed, adjective

Synonyms for excerpt

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR excerpt ON THESAURUS.COM
1. selection, portion, section, part.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for excerpt

Contemporary Examples of excerpt

Historical Examples of excerpt

British Dictionary definitions for excerpt

excerpt

noun (ˈɛksɜːpt)

a part or passage taken from a book, speech, play, etc, and considered on its own; extract

verb (ɛkˈsɜːpt)

(tr) to take (a part or passage) from a book, speech, play, etc
Derived Formsexcerptor, nounexcerptible, adjectiveexcerption, noun

Word Origin for excerpt

C17: from Latin excerptum, literally: (something) picked out, from excerpere to select, from carpere to pluck
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for excerpt
v.

early 15c. (implied in excerpte), from Latin excerptus, past participle of excerpere "pluck out, pick out, extract, excerpt," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + carpere "pluck, gather," from PIE *kerp- "to gather, pluck, harvest" (see harvest (n.)). Related: Excerpted; excerpting.

n.

1630s, from Latin excerptum "an extract, selection," noun use of neuter past participle of excerpere (see excerpt (v.)). Related: excerpts.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper