rewrite
Americanverb (used with object)
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rewrites,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rewrote,
past
-
rewritten,
past participle
-
rewriting
present participle
-
to write in a different form or manner; revise.
to rewrite the entire book.
-
to write again.
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to write (news submitted by a reporter) for inclusion in a newspaper.
noun
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rewrites
plural
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the news story rewritten.
-
something written in a different form or manner; revision.
They loved the rewrite, and said it would be a blockbuster!
verb
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to write (written material) again, esp changing the words or form
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computing to return (data) to a store when it has been erased during reading
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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rewritesimple
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rewritessimple
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have rewrittenperfect
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has rewrittenperfect
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am rewritingprogressive
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are rewritingprogressive
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is rewritingprogressive
-
have been rewritingperfect progressive
-
has been rewritingperfect progressive
Past
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rewrotesimple
-
had rewrittenperfect
-
was rewritingprogressive
-
were rewritingprogressive
-
had been rewritingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rewrite
Explanation
When you rewrite something, you start from scratch, writing it again to improve it. You might decide to rewrite a poem after your entire poetry class seems confused by your original version. A newspaper editor might instruct a reporter to rewrite her story, approaching it from a new angle or including more interviews. To rewrite something is to edit it, but the word implies making significant changes — or even starting all over again with a blank piece of paper or computer screen. You can call the new version itself a rewrite too. In journalism, it was once common for a "rewrite man" to work crafting new stories out of other people's reporting.
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:
Powerful AI models have demonstrated an ability to not only lie to users but also to rewrite their own code to avoid being shut down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
It took more than three years of work, including a complete rewrite of the script and Croft's dialogue, now voiced by the British actress Alix Wilton Regan.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
Beyoncé gave it a modern rewrite for her 2024 Cowboy Carter, external album, changing the lyrics from: "I'm begging of you, please, don't take my man" to "I'm warning you, don't come for my man."
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Beutner said the bill attempts to rewrite Proposition 28, which voters approved by a nearly two-thirds margin in 2022.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
This was an extraordinary claim that promised to rewrite fundamental laws of physics, backed up by extensive results from the cyclotron.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
"The study rewrites the timeline for the koala's genetic history in Australia," says PhD student Toby Kovacs, who led the research.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
When Euphoria first launched, it quickly became one of the defining shows of its generation, but after a five-year break marked by strikes, rewrites and cast departures, it returned to a noticeably more divided response.
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
It also says proposed amendments have to go through the Legislature twice, with an election in between, giving voters another chance to be heard on constitutional rewrites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
In situations when clients wanted more-substantial rewrites, I could charge a few hundred dollars for an essay.
From Slate ● Mar. 20, 2026
“But why do I have to be the one who rewrites the future? We were only trying to get your dashiki back. That’s the only reason we’re here in the first place!”
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Congress rewrote the charitable-deduction rules, effective Jan. 1, 2026, with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and every change pushed value away from the deduction and toward your adjusted gross income.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
In March 2025, he rewrote the novel in five days.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
He also rewrote contracts so Welltower participated more directly in the gains when its operators filled more apartments and increased rents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
“The bill rewrote the math on charitable giving,” says Kevin Knull, chief executive officer of TaxStatus.
From Barron's ● May 9, 2026
It seemed to get worse each time I rewrote it, but I couldn’t stop myself.
From "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green
A judge ruled the legislature’s summary unfair and ordered it rewritten.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
And the terms are being rewritten in real time by the sole signatory.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
Both candidates said there was potential grounds for a legal challenge to the rewritten duties.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
But in recent weeks, several organisations have called for the rules to be rewritten.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
“The future may yet be rewritten, by those who can find the beauty in the darkness,” Ama says, the light from the fire casting onto her face.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
We are at the dawn of recursive self-improvement, the moment when AI systems begin rewriting and improving their own code, causing an intelligence explosion, all without human intervention.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
"Unfortunately, the process of rewriting history is much bigger, much deeper. It's also the destruction of monuments," said Zhemkova.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
In a city that had manifested an entire industry out of rewriting stories, I wondered whether the secret was simply to write a new one for myself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
According to Pangram, A.I.-assisted writing “is text a person wrote partly with help from an AI tool—for example, editing or rewriting parts.”
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
It is a sign of how successful Newton was in rewriting history that this phenomenon became known as ‘Newton’s rings’.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
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.
