word for word

adverb

1. in exactly the same words; verbatim.

2. one word at a time, without regard for the sense of the whole.

   She translated the book word for word.

Other Word Forms

• word-for-word adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of word for word¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

Idioms and Phrases

Exactly as written or spoken, as in That was the forecast, word for word. Chaucer used this idiom in the late 1300s.