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
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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-
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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STAAR Grade 8 Reading: The Language of the Test, List 1
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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:
In an excerpt published in the Wall Street Journal, he wrote that he’s learned “to love all parts of our Christian communion,” including those “who voted for me and those who didn’t.”
From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2026
Pangram is considered one of the most reliable and testing by AFP on an excerpt of "It Was Either That or Die" indicated a 100-percent probability that Orelien had used AI to produce it.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Sam, who now lives in Swansea, has recently been looking through his care files and shared an excerpt with the BBC.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
An excerpt from Gurba’s new book, “Poppy State.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Take this excerpt from a 340-word soliloquy in a novel by Rebecca Goldstein.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
He arrived in the early 1990s when the New Yorker picked him from the slush pile and began serializing excerpts of what would become “The End of Vandalism.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
The film is burnished throughout with split panels to accentuate the party’s animated cross talk, peppered with excerpts from one-on-one interviews that William filmed later.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
But following allegations started by an anonymous X account, the 38-year-old Haitian-Canadian stands accused of using artificial intelligence to write his novel based on analysis of excerpts by AI-detection websites such as Pangram.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Kevin Bryan, a University of Toronto professor who specializes in the economics of innovation and artificial intelligence, also ran excerpts through Pangram, noting that every selection he pulled came back as 100% AI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Then the orchestra played excerpts from Dvorak's New World Symphony and I kept hearing "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" resounding through its dominant theme—my mother's and grandfather's favorite spiritual.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
The coming-of-age stories of four women the Times evacuated are chronicled in the forthcoming book “The Last Free Women,” excerpted below.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
A portion of their conversation, edited and condensed for clarity, has been excerpted below.
From Slate ● May 12, 2026
In the climate science chapter, footnote 77 says “discussion of attribution research has been adapted, and, in some cases, excerpted from the authors’ prior publications on this topic.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026
Davis’ mother is also the subject of an autobiographical novel, long in process, that is excerpted in the “Magnificent Product” catalog.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 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
I also asked Daniel Ziblatt, a Harvard professor and a co-author of “How Democracies Die,” for his thoughts, and his email response is worth excerpting:
From New York Times ● Feb. 10, 2022
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
Even at 82, Steinem says the experience taught her something: “It made me understand the dangers of excerpting a few words.”
From Time ● May 5, 2016
For every one doth not know what is excerpting.
From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 by Isaac Disraeli
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