transcription

American  

[tran-skrip-shuhn] / trænˈskrɪp ʃən /

noun

transcriptions plural

1. the act or process of transcribing.

2. something transcribed.

3. a transcript; copy.

4. Music.

   1. the arrangement of a composition for a medium other than that for which it was originally written.

   2. a composition so arranged.

5. Radio and Television. a recording made especially for broadcasting.

6. Genetics. the process by which genetic information on a strand of DNA is used to synthesize a strand of complementary RNA.

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transcription British  

/ trænˈskrɪpʃən /

noun

1. the act or an instance of transcribing or the state of being transcribed

2. something transcribed

3. a representation in writing of the actual pronunciation of a speech sound, word, or piece of continuous text, using not a conventional orthography but a symbol or set of symbols specially designated as standing for corresponding phonetic values

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transcription Scientific  

/ trăn-skrĭp′shən /

1. The process in a cell by which genetic material is copied from a strand of DNA to a complementary strand of RNA (called messenger RNA). In eukaryotes, transcription takes place in the nucleus before messenger RNA is transported to the ribosomes for protein synthesis.

2. Compare translation

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• mistranscription
  noun
• nontranscription
  noun
• pretranscription
  noun
• retranscription
  noun
• transscriptionist
  noun
• nontranscriptive
  adjective
• transcriptional
  adjective
• transcriptive
  adjective
• transcriptionally
  adverb
• transcriptively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• transcriptions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of transcription

First recorded in 1590–1600, transcription is from the Latin word trānscrīptiōn- (stem of trānscrīptiō ). See transcript, -ion

Explanation

A transcription is the document made by copying down in writing something that you listen to, like audio tapes, an interview, or comments made during a meeting. If you watch TV crime dramas, you’ve probably seen someone take a transcription while cops interview a suspect — that person is writing down all the things that are said. Transcription can also refer to the process of transcribing. If you’re a musician, you probably know that transcription can also describe adapting a piece of music for different instruments, like a cello transcription of a Beatles song.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

transcription transcriptions

During impromptu conversations with co-workers, someone might turn on the Granola transcription app, which can turn the interactions into one-page summaries or a list of action items.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

Legal professionals and the National Court Reporters Association warn AI-assisted transcription remains prone to errors, emphasizing human skill for certified legal records.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026

A.I. transcription has gotten extremely good in the past few years and has taken a notable step forward over the past several months.

From Slate ● May 24, 2026

The system connected early changes in transcription factor activity with later shifts in DNA accessibility, RNA production, and stable gene expression patterns.

From Science Daily ● May 21, 2026

Moments later the two of them were in Mr. Curtain’s office, poring over a chart of Morse code, hastily scrawling a transcription of the distant honks.

From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart

There will also be an England-wide rollout of AI tools that record conversations between patients and NHS staff to generate real-time transcriptions and clinical summaries.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

This week, while releasing new AI models for internal uses, such as transcriptions, he described them External link to the Financial Times as “mid-class” and not in competition with the best frontier models.

From Barron's ● Apr. 4, 2026

Hildegard repeatedly and courageously stands up to the dominant male power of the Church but is disturbed by the nature of her feelings for a troubled young novice, Richardis von Stade, who illustrates the transcriptions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026

Hildegard is best known for the music she produced in her Rhineland German monastery and for the transcriptions of her luminous visions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2025

Unfortunately, the programs we have at present are too often transcriptions onto television monitors of unimaginative lists of routine exercises taken from the textbooks.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Related Words

• breeding
• copy
• facsimile
• imitation
• photocopy
• photograph
• picture
• print
• propagation
• recreation
• replica
• replication