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Synonyms

write

American

[rahyt] / raɪt /

verb (used with object)

to trace or form (characters, letters, words, etc.) on the surface of some material, as with a pen, pencil, or other instrument or means; inscribe.

Write your name on the board.
to express or communicate in writing; give a written account of.

She wrote to thank us for the hospitality.
to fill in the blank spaces of (a printed form) with writing.

to write a check.
to execute or produce by setting down words, figures, etc..

to write two copies of a letter.
to compose and produce in words or characters duly set down.

to write a letter to a friend.
to produce as author or composer.

to write a sonnet;
to write a symphony.

Synonyms:

create, draft, author, pen, compose
to trace significant characters on, or mark or cover with writing.
to cause to be apparent or unmistakable.

Honesty is written on his face.
Computers. to transfer (information, data, programs, etc.) from storage to secondary storage or an output medium.
Stock Exchange. to sell (options).
to underwrite.

verb (used without object)

to trace or form characters, words, etc., with a pen, pencil, or other instrument or means, or as a pen or the like does.

He writes with a pen.
to write as a profession or occupation.

She writes for the Daily Inquirer.
to express ideas in writing.

He wrote about his trip to Borneo.
to write a letter or letters, or communicate by letter.

Write if you get work.
to compose or work as a writer or author.
Computers. to transfer into a secondary storage device or output medium.

verb phrase

write up
1. to put into writing, especially in full detail.
  
  My boss asked me to write up a report for the meeting on Monday, so I cancelled my plans and worked on it all weekend.
2. to present to public notice in a written description or account.
3. to document a violation, complaint, or charge against, especially in a recommendation for disciplinary action.
  
  Is it true that you were written up by your French teacher because you set a classroom dictionary on fire?
4. Accounting. to make an excessive valuation of (an asset).
write off
1. to cancel an entry in an account, as an unpaid and uncollectable debt.
2. to regard as worthless, lost, obsolete, etc.; decide to forget.
  
  to write off their bad experience.
3. to amortize.
  
  The new equipment was written off in three years.
write down
1. to set down in writing; record; note.
2. to direct one's writing to a less intelligent reader or audience.
  
  He writes down to the public.
write in
1. to vote for (a candidate not listed on the ballot) by writing a full name rather than selecting an option on the ballot.
2. to include in or add to a text by writing.
  
  Do not write in corrections on the galley.
3. to request something by mail.
  
  If interested, please write in for details.
write out
1. to put into writing.
2. to write in full form; state completely.
3. to exhaust the capacity or resources of by excessive writing.
  
  He's just another author who has written himself out.

write British

/ raɪt /

verb

to draw or mark (symbols, words, etc) on a surface, usually paper, with a pen, pencil, or other instrument
to describe or record (ideas, experiences, etc) in writing
to compose (a letter) to or correspond regularly with (a person, organization, etc)
(tr; may take a clause as object) to say or communicate by letter

he wrote that he was on his way
informal (tr) to send a letter to (a person, etc)
to write (words) in cursive as opposed to printed style
(tr) to be sufficiently familiar with (a specified style, language, etc) to use it in writing
to be the author or composer of (books, music, etc)
(tr) to fill in the details for (a document, form, etc)
(tr) to draw up or draft
(tr) to produce by writing

he wrote ten pages
(tr) to show clearly

envy was written all over his face
(tr) to spell, inscribe, or entitle
(tr) to ordain or prophesy

it is written
(tr) to sit (an examination)
(intr) to produce writing as specified
computing to record (data) in a location in a storage device Compare read 1
(tr) Compare underwrite

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

write Idioms

More idioms and phrases containing write

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

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Etymology

Origin of write

First recorded before 900; Middle English writen, Old English wrītan; cognate with Old Saxon wrītan “to cut, write,” German reissen “to tear, draw,” Old Norse rīta “to score, write”

Explanation

To write is to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. If you have trouble falling asleep, write down all the thoughts swimming around your head before getting into bed as a way to clear your mind. Write is the modern day spelling of the Old English writan, meaning “to score, outline, draw the figure of.” Now it has the sense of “to set down in writing.” You can write music, a short story, or computer code. You can write a letter, or write in cursive. You can write up an account of a burglary, or write down your feelings in a journal. Write on!

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing write

TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)

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Common Core Grades 7–8, List 5

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Common Core Grades 9–10, List 5

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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:

write writes writ wrote written writing

"If they want to write them, that's fine," he continued.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

And although I believe professional writers have an ethical obligation to write our own words, I don’t think that’s true of every op-ed contributor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

The panel could put consider proposals for independent third parties to write safety plans or for companies to develop an emergency shutoff.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

To gain more agency, for example, you can tend the garden for an hour or write your autobiography.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

“Let her think what she wants. Maybe she’ll write it up that way. It makes a nice story.”

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Pharmacies are failing on AI diet pill checks, writes Sunday People.

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

While these facets might depict our tech-obsessed age, Mungiu writes them in a way that makes the Norwegians look silly, and the Gheorghius look like objectively good parents.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026

Huberman doesn’t think it’s that complex—talking about his morning routine, he writes, “When people ask me, ‘Who has time for all this?’

From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2026

“The best work we can do as conservators and restorers,” Mr. Warrack writes, is the “enhancement of the beauty and artistry” of the monuments’ original creators.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

She writes code to ask if I am able to see that she is testing my arm.

From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga

The VC industry writ large has made a huge push into companies contributing to the physical build-out of AI, as it becomes increasingly clear that sustaining AI’s fast growth will require significantly more infrastructure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

And in a surprising twist, the settlement may turn Meta itself into yet another pressure point on the social media industry writ large.

From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026

The government injected billions into banks, insurance giant AIG and the automobile industry to prevent the collapse of individual companies that would have jeopardized the economy and the financial system writ large if they failed.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026

It represents a leap in the evolution of Saar’s work — her smaller scale imaginings now writ large.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

He promised that we would soon have a satire acted upon the rebels, writ by the notorious wit Major-General Burgoyne, with curtain-tunes and airs by this same excellent sapper to please the crowd.

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

French posted the photo and wrote on X, “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026

"Delays in specimen collection, transportation and testing can postpone confirmation by days or weeks, which hinders the isolation of infected persons, contact tracing and the initiation of outbreak-control measures," Sullivan wrote.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026

Julie Wernau is a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal who wrote about health and medicine across the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

The plaintiffs received “edible Reese’s Peanut Butter products of the type and quantity advertised,” the judge wrote, finding that their complaint amounted to “subjective disappointment” rather than a concrete financial loss.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026

He also wrote instructions on paper, “rap four times,” “rap seven.”

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

Stories are always written about lessons learned by students in the classroom and on the field, but what do coaches, most of them teachers, learn from their students?

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026

"You used to think you were useless. Well, you have proven you're not," Angela has written.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

This version was written by Dolly Alderton, the author of the hit 2023 rom-com novel “Good Material,” and stars Emma Corrin of “The Crown,” Jack Lowden of “Slow Horses,” and Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

The decline of McClatchy, with its roots in California’s Gold Rush era, speaks to the larger challenges facing the news industry — and the reason AB 2222 was written.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

A pin on her shirt says Legendary Gra with Auntie Bernadette written on masking tape over the rest.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

In the 50s, the only way they could communicate was by writing letters through air mail but this later progressed to emails and now their method of choice is WhatsApp.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

Such is the beauty of Mungiu’s observational, deceptively nuanced writing.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026

Who was Bill Plaschke writing his no three-peat column for?

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

Zuckerberg took a laissez-faire approach, writing in his Tuesday post that Meta Superintelligence Labs already engages independent evaluators and ”other labs can just do this too.”

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026

Indeed, at the time of this writing we have forty-one dogs, counting the joyful madness we call the puppy pen, and each dog has taught us much.

From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023