writer

American  

[rahy-ter] / ˈraɪ tər /

noun

• writers
  plural

1. a person engaged in writing books, articles, stories, etc., especially as an occupation or profession; an author or journalist.

2. a clerk, scribe, or the like.

3. a person who commits their thoughts, ideas, etc., to writing.

   She's an expert letter writer.

4. (in a piece of writing) the author (used as a circumlocution for “I,” “me,” “my,” etc.).

   The writer wishes to state….

5. a person who writes or is able to write.

   a writer in script.

6. Stock Exchange. someone who sells options.

7. Scot. a lawyer or solicitor.

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writer British  

/ ˈraɪtə /

noun

1. a person who writes books, articles, etc, esp as an occupation

2. the person who has written something specified

3. a person who is able to write or write well

4. a scribe or clerk

5. a composer of music

6. a legal practitioner, such as a notary or solicitor

7. (in Scotland) a member of an ancient society of solicitors, now having the exclusive privilege of preparing crown writs

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• writers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of writer

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English wrītere; see origin at write, -er ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

writer writers

And also Katie Dippold spoke to this, the creator and writer, where she said she kind of thought one can almost relieve the other.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

As a freelance writer based in the South, I immediately realized I needed to become obsessed with the details of this case and start reporting.

From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026

For Syria, the challenge is not to become an arena for others' conflict, said Maher Tamran, a writer and political researcher in Damascus.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

Winn had repeatedly claimed The Salt Path was the first book she had written, and which she won a number of accolades for, including a £10,000 prize for a debut novelist or non-fiction writer.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

It’s like an actor remaining in character and refusing to leave his dressing room, or a writer refusing to leave his garret after finishing a book.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Times staff writers Terry Castleman and Hailey Branson-Potts contributed to this report.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

Longtime drinks writers Caroline Pardilla and Esther Tseng, who both started covering bars in the early 2000s, remember a pre-COVID nightlife landscape with later hours, more clubs and fewer alternatives competing for young people’s time.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

Subtitled “From Periods to Interrobangs, How Punctuation Remade the World,” the book explores the evolution and effects of the small markings that writers have used for more than four centuries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Most writers, she adds, cannot live on their books, least of all in Africa.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Then, in 1968, I entered a contest for black writers run by the Council on Interracial Books for Children.

From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers

Related Words

• author
• biographer
• columnist
• correspondent
• critic
• dramatist
• editor
• essayist
• journalist
• novelist
• poet
• reporter
• screenwriter