manuscript

[man-yuh-skript]

noun

1. the original text of an author's work, handwritten or now usually typed, that is submitted to a publisher.

2. any text not printed.

3. a book or document written before the invention of printing.

4. writing, as distinguished from print.

adjective

1. handwritten or typed, not professionally printed.

manuscript

/ ˈmænjʊˌskrɪpt /

noun

1. a book or other document written by hand

2. the original handwritten or typed version of a book, article, etc, as submitted by an author for publication

3. 1. handwriting, as opposed to printing

   2. ( as modifier )

      a manuscript document

Other Word Forms

• manuscriptal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of manuscript¹

1590–1600; < Medieval Latin manūscrīptus written by hand, equivalent to Latin manū by hand (ablative of manus ) + scrīptus written; script

Word History and Origins

Origin of manuscript¹

C16: from Medieval Latin manūscriptus, from Latin manus hand + scribere to write

Example Sentences

One ironic artifact is a letter to a friend of Otto Frank’s from an unnamed Viking editor—the signature is illegible—rejecting the manuscript.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

He sent off the finished manuscript to 25 literary agents.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Abstracts presented at the American Heart Association's scientific meetings are not peer-reviewed, and the findings are considered preliminary until published as a full manuscript in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

Read more on Science Daily

Cooper had left the original manuscript on a London bus, and it had taken her a decade to rewrite it - but it became an international bestseller.

Read more on BBC

The novel kicks off with the theft of a book manuscript from a publishing house — a book, we learn, that may contain the secrets to an entirely new way of looking at the world.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• article 
• document 
• text