proofread

American  

[proof-reed] / ˈprufˌrid /

verb (used with object)

• proofreads,
  present (3rd person singular)
• proofread,
  past participle,  past
• proofreading
  present participle

1. to read (printers' proofs, copy, etc.) in order to detect and mark errors to be corrected.

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verb (used without object)

• proofreads,
  present (3rd person singular)
• proofread,
  past participle,  past
• proofreading
  present participle

1. to read printers' proofs, copy, etc., to detect and mark errors, especially as an employee of a typesetting firm, newspaper office, or publishing house.

proofread British  

/ ˈpruːfˌriːd /

verb

1. to read (copy or printer's proofs) to detect and mark errors to be corrected

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• proofreader
  noun
• unproofread
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• proofreading
  present
• proofread
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• proofread
  simple
• proofreads
  simple
• have proofread
  perfect
• has proofread
  perfect
• am proofreading
  progressive
• are proofreading
  progressive
• is proofreading
  progressive
• have been proofreading
  perfect progressive
• has been proofreading
  perfect progressive

Past

• proofread
  simple
• had proofread
  perfect
• was proofreading
  progressive
• were proofreading
  progressive
• had been proofreading
  perfect progressive

Future

• will proofread
  simple
• will have proofread
  perfect
• will be proofreading
  progressive
• will have been proofreading
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of proofread

1930–35; back formation from proofreader ( see proof, read ¹)

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Explanation

To proofread is to look over a piece of writing for errors, watching out for spelling mistakes and grammar problems. If you don’t proofread your work, you might write “ham” instead of “harm” and confuse the heck out of your reader. By the time you proofread a piece of writing, it should be almost done. It’s the very last step of the writing process after drafting, editing, and revising. To proofread is to look at the little details of a piece of writing, such as spelling, word choice, formatting, and sentence structure. When you proofread, you look for errors and fix them. You can proofread your own work, but sometimes it’s good to get someone else to proofread what you've written.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

proofread proofreads proofreading

In May 1962, Cormac McCarthy addressed a letter to the “fiction editor” of Random House—the only publisher he’d heard of—and sent it along with a manuscript he had not proofread.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

It’s a clear no, with the only exceptions being when editors use A.I. to proofread their writing or translate foreign-language entries.

From Slate ● Apr. 1, 2026

Kaspar did a Q&A for the Sophia’s Cure YouTube channel from the Gaynors’ dining room and proofread posts Vincent wrote for the charity’s website.

From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2025

It was so terribly boring that even I could not proofread it without falling asleep.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2025

I type it into my phone and proofread it three times before I hit send.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Scheduling should include time for rewrites, proofreads and secondary reads by friends, colleagues and family members, experts say.

From Nature ● Dec. 19, 2019

Between homework and scholarship applications, Huynh said she usually proofreads her dad’s emails, checking for accurate grammar and punctuation. He keeps a notebook with key vocabulary terms and phrases by his computer to learn daily.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 26, 2018

He also proofreads the game program and can recall statistics, with savant-like accuracy, from Oregon Tech victories 20 years ago.

From New York Times ● Feb. 23, 2012

On the train, she makes more calls and proofreads documents.

From Time Magazine Archive

In one of those studies, participants asked five friends in person to help them with a brief proofreading task.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

Axel Springer has announced job cuts in recent years, pointing in part to the role of artificial intelligence in rendering certain roles such as proofreading obsolete.

From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026

Once Blanchard was released, that’s when the editing, proofreading and fact-checking began.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 10, 2024

Human editors then adapt the generated copy to something that the real Al Michaels might say spontaneously, while proofreading the text for any typos—especially those pertaining to athlete names.

From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2024

Now he had to struggle to say something that interested her, something that made her look up from her plate, or from her proofreading files.

From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri

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