excerpt
[noun ek-surpt; verb ik-surpt, ek-surpt]
- a passage or quotation taken or selected from a book, document, film, or the like; extract.
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- 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.
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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
Synonyms
See more synonyms for excerpt on Thesaurus.com1. selection, portion, section, part.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for excerpt
Contemporary Examples
At that same conference in D.C. where she met Saa, Gurira performed an excerpt from Eclipsed.
Here, an excerpt from a new book that details her path to revenge and its unintended aftermath.
Mossad’s Greatest Female Assassin: An Excerpt From ‘Sylvia Rafael’Ram Oren, Moti Kfir
September 20, 2014
In an excerpt from his autobiography, he describes the reaction.
In an excerpt from 'What We Won,' the story of Abdul Rashid Dostum.
The Warlord Who Defines Afghanistan: An Excerpt From Bruce Riedel’s ’What We Won’Bruce Riedel
July 27, 2014
In an excerpt from his ebook The Dudes Abide, Jeff Bridges and John Goodman meet the Dude and Walter for the first time.
Historical Examples
Grenfell and Hunt date the Gospel, from which it is an excerpt, about 200.
Mark the adjectives in this excerpt and use them in sentences of your own.
Plain EnglishMarian Wharton
The letter from which the excerpt is taken was written Feb. 13, 1895.
The Fiction FactoryJohn Milton Edwards
Was then this "excerpt charter" a forgery, or a genuine document?
We should not now combine a Norse saga with an excerpt from a novel by George Meredith.
UlyssesJames Joyce
excerpt
- a part or passage taken from a book, speech, play, etc, and considered on its own; extract
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- (tr) to take (a part or passage) from a book, speech, play, etc
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Word Origin
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
n.
1630s, from Latin excerptum "an extract, selection," noun use of neuter past participle of excerpere (see excerpt (v.)). Related: excerpts.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper