indite

American  

[in-dahyt] / ɪnˈdaɪt /

verb (used with object)

indited, inditing

1. to compose or write, as a poem.

2. to treat in a literary composition.

3. Obsolete. to dictate.

4. Obsolete. to prescribe.

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indite British  

/ ɪnˈdaɪt /

verb

1. archaic to write

2. obsolete to dictate

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Usage

Indite and inditement are sometimes wrongly used where indict and indictment are meant: he was indicted (not indited ) for fraud

Other Word Forms

• inditement noun
• inditer noun

Etymology

Origin of indite

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English enditen, from Old French enditer, from unattested Vulgar Latin indictāre, derivative of Latin indictus, past participle of indīcere “to announce, proclaim”; in- ², dictum

Explanation

The verb indite, rarely used today, means "compose" or "put down in writing," like when you find a quiet place to sit down with your notebook and pen and indite a journal entry or a first draft of a short story. To indite is to write something creative — you indite a letter, and jot a grocery list. Don't confuse indite with its homophone indict, which means "to charge with a crime." Both come from the Latin word dictare, meaning “to declare.” Even if you indite a really bad poem, critics won't indict you.

Example Sentences

I was about to indite my valedictory; then came your manifesto�Dec. 29 issue�affirming your determination to hold fast to all those virtues for the presumed jettisoning of which I was about to leave you.

From Time Magazine Archive

Even in the White House he never dictated or used a typewriter, "and the number of letters he could indite with his own heavy fist was limited."

From Time Magazine Archive

He that would triumph over the petty trickery of fate must indite history at its source.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

Shall I sit down and indite an epistle?

From The Kentuckian in New-York, Volume I (of 2) or, The Adventures of Three Southerns by Caruthers, William Alexander

She would indite a little letter to her brother, and, lest there should be delays she would not put her letter in the post.

From The Maid of Honour (Vol. 3 of 3) A Tale of the Dark Days of France by Wingfield, Lewis