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• edit
  edit

  verb (used with object)

  to supervise or direct the preparation of (a newspaper, magazine, book, etc.); serve as editor of; direct the editorial policies of.
• edit.
  edit.

  abbreviation

  edited.

edit

¹ American  

[ed-it] / ˈɛd ɪt /

verb (used with object)

• edits,
  present (3rd person singular)
• edited,
  past participle,  past
• editing
  present participle

1. to supervise or direct the preparation of (a newspaper, magazine, book, etc.); serve as editor of; direct the editorial policies of.

2. to collect, prepare, and arrange (materials) for publication.

3. to revise or correct, as a manuscript.

4. to expunge; eliminate (often followed byout ).

   The author has edited out all references to his own family.

5. to add (usually followed byin ).

6. to prepare (motion-picture film, video or magnetic tape) by deleting, arranging, and splicing, by synchronizing the sound record with the film, etc.

7. Genetics. to alter the arrangement of (genes).

8. Computers. to modify or add to (data or text).

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noun

• edits
  plural

1. an instance of or the work of editing.

   automated machinery that allows a rapid edit of incoming news.

edit. ² American  

abbreviation

1. edited.

2. edition.

3. editor.

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edit British  

/ ˈɛdɪt /

verb

1. to prepare (text) for publication by checking and improving its accuracy, clarity, etc

2. to be in charge of (a publication, esp a periodical)

   he edits the local newspaper

3. to prepare (a film, tape, etc) by rearrangement, selection, or rejection of previously filmed or taped material

4. (tr) to modify (a computer file) by, for example, deleting, inserting, moving, or copying text

5. (often foll by out) to remove (incorrect or unwanted matter), as from a manuscript or film

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noun

1. informal an act of editing

   give the book a final edit

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• overedit
  verb
• misedit
  verb (used with object)
• reedit
  verb (used with object)
• unedited
  adjective
• well-edited
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• edits
  plural

Participles

• editing
  present
• edited
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• edit
  simple
• edits
  simple
• have edited
  perfect
• has edited
  perfect
• am editing
  progressive
• are editing
  progressive
• is editing
  progressive
• have been editing
  perfect progressive
• has been editing
  perfect progressive

Past

• edited
  simple
• had edited
  perfect
• was editing
  progressive
• were editing
  progressive
• had been editing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will edit
  simple
• will have edited
  perfect
• will be editing
  progressive
• will have been editing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of edit

First recorded in 1785–95; 1915–20 edit for def. 6; partly back formation from editor, partly from French éditer, verb derivative of Latin ēditus “published, given out,” past participle of ēdere “to give out,” from ē- e- ¹ + -dere, combining form of dare “to give” ( cf. datum)

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Explanation

The verb edit means to prepare writing for publication by correcting, revising, or proofreading. If you write for a newspaper, someone very skilled will edit your work before the public sees it. Edit can also mean to cut out. If you edit out all the references to Harry Potter from the famous series, you'll be left with much shorter books. Edit likely comes from the noun editor, meaning the person in charge of a final version of a text. You might also hear edit used when referring to video or film. If you edit a television show, for example, you assemble pieces of video or film footage to create a complete program.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

edit edit. edits edited editing

Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 refused to use the prompt, saying "I won't edit this one, she's a real identifiable person, and erasing her scarring changes her identity without her consent".

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

The firm also pointed to US chemist and biologist David Liu for developing "precision gene editing technologies that directly edit DNA in living systems".

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

“When journalists go out on the street their capitalization isn’t what they worry about. They worry about their beats. They write stories and editors edit the stories and they are published without interference of owners.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026

Producing video once required specialized skills and expensive software; now, she said, “people have TikTok. And the way that you can film and edit there is way easier to learn.”

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026

Then she shot her opening bit and her closing bit, and the camera crew drove back to Carrington to edit all the pieces and put them together into a two-minute news story.

From "Frindle" by Andrew Clements

“You cannot edit. You’re dealing with real sets and real props, lit by real light. Stop-motion is to live-action what Ginger Rogers is to Fred Astaire: We do the same steps, backwards in high heels.”

From New York Times ● Jan. 3, 2023

"You're properly live, you can get people on the phone, and it's just happening in that moment. And whatever you say, that's it, there's no edit. And I've really enjoyed the slot."

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2022

Far from being depressing, Prengaman said that “it’s a really rewarding thing to work on, to edit. It really teaches you the value of people’s lives.”

From Washington Times ● Jun. 3, 2020

“He could write. He could edit. He could design pages. He was just a jack of all trades and a fantastic person.”

From The Guardian ● Jun. 29, 2018

When I was handed this story, I just thought, “Oh wow, another story to edit. Gee, this is great! I wish I could do this every day.”

From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers

CBS News, for its part, called the Status account a “ludicrous, twisted narrative” and insisted the piece received far fewer edits than most.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026

Unlike a traditional videographer who might take a few months to produce a polished wedding film, Burton edits short-form, vertical videos called highlight reels that can be shared the next day.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

Wolf owes some of her newfound success to “Twilight,” whose characters starred in video edits set to her music that launched her 2025 single “In My Room” to viral fame.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

“Swan Song” follows all of Mr. Spencer’s edits to the eulogy text with preposterous vanity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

I ain’t been able to see Miss Skeeter in person in six months, since we finished Miss Stein’s edits and turned in the final copy.

From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

Though an uncensored director’s cut premiered in 2002, it was never formally released on home media, and “The Devils” remained difficult to find outside of low-quality, choppily edited releases and torrents for decades.

From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2026

The comments have not been edited out of the paywalled episode of the podcast.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

In the U.S., there are some gene-edited crops on the market but many consumers remain wary, worried that genetically modified or edited foods might carry health risks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026

A portion of their conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity below.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

These memoirs were later added to and edited by other veterans.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

Pierson previously worked for a New York nonprofit doing editing, program administration and some operations.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

"It does not generate new scenes or performances, alter actors' faces or likenesses, or use synthetic voices," he said, adding that a human editor would be "reviewing and approving every stage of the editing process".

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

Trying to re-create that, editing it piece by piece on a computer ... it wasn’t fun.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026

Thorne said the average price for a wedding content creator can range between £200 and £1,000 and usually covers the day of filming and the time spent editing.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

In editing, I can slow down the waitstaff action and time it to “Pachelbel’s Canon.”

From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed

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Related Words

• adapt
• alter
• analyze
• annotate
• arrange
• assemble
• censor
• choose
• compile
• compose
• delete
• prepare
• publish
• rearrange
• revise
• select

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