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
-
rewritessimple
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have rewrittenperfect
-
has rewrittenperfect
-
am rewritingprogressive
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are rewritingprogressive
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is rewritingprogressive
-
have been rewritingperfect progressive
-
has been rewritingperfect progressive
Past
-
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:
Sumner was a radical Republican on the vanguard of the anti-slavery movement, and as an abolitionist, he was fighting to rewrite the Constitution using Frederick Douglass’ language.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
We can’t rewrite the family circumstances students were born into, but we can be honest about how family shapes student outcomes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
If making money were as easy as we make it seem when we rewrite history, then why diversify or hedge your bets?
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
And that will not only change the way we think of sports and athletes, it will completely rewrite the record book.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
This is the moment where I can rewrite the future and save the Shards—and the world—from Nansi’s anger.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
"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
Some of it was spent gathering input from residents, public health groups, Native American governments and companies — feedback the agency addressed in subsequent rewrites.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
In situations when clients wanted more-substantial rewrites, I could charge a few hundred dollars for an essay.
From Slate ● Mar. 20, 2026
Simply for the sake of mixing up the challenge and shuffling the pack, F1 rewrites its entire rulebook.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 8, 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
But the numbers already racked up by Sinner show how he is undoubtedly tracking Djokovic, Nadal and Federer - who became known as the 'Big Three' as they rewrote the record books.
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
“The bill rewrote the math on charitable giving,” says Kevin Knull, chief executive officer of TaxStatus.
From Barron's ● May 9, 2026
Playwright Jonathan Spector rewrote lines in “Eureka Day” because laughter drowned out key dialogue and backstage cues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
He wrote and rewrote the e-mail, not mentioning his wife or using the first person plural, trying for a balance between earnest and funny.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
And the terms are being rewritten in real time by the sole signatory.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
Institutional judgment becomes meaningless when operational directives can be rewritten on a whim overnight.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 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
Likewise, the logician would argue, You only live once should be rewritten as You live only once, with only next to the thing it quantifies, once.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
But I remember rewriting several sentences of my own work in the hopes of satisfying this new integrity god.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
Through her audacity and fierce self-belief, Osterberg was a prime mover in rewriting the playbook for women in British sport.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
In the process, they are rewriting the rules of retirement and aging, when people are expected to move into smaller homes to save money.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
“Chaps, I have had a go at rewriting the paper,” Browne’s climate adviser wrote the researchers at one point.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
The generation of an RNA copy of a gene was termed transcription—referring to the rewriting of a word or sentence in a language close to the original.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
