writing

[rahy-ting]

noun

1. the act of a person or thing that writes.

2. written written form.

   to commit one's thoughts to writing.

3. that which is written; written; characters or matter written written with a pen or the like.

   His writing is illegible.

4. such characters or matter with respect to style, kind, quality, etc.

5. an inscription.

6. a letter.

7. any written written or printed paper, as a document or deed.

8. literary or musical style, form, quality, technique, etc..

   Her writing is stilted.

9. a literary composition or production.

10. the profession of a writer.

    He turned to writing at an early age.

11. the Writings, Hagiographa.

writing

/ ˈraɪtɪŋ /

noun

1. a group of letters or symbols written or marked on a surface as a means of communicating ideas by making each symbol stand for an idea, concept, or thing, by using each symbol to represent a set of sounds grouped into syllables ( syllabic writing ), or by regarding each symbol as corresponding roughly or exactly to each of the sounds in the language ( alphabetic writing ) See also ideogram

2. short for handwriting

3. anything expressed in letters, esp a literary composition

4. the work of a writer

5. literary style, art, or practice

6. written form

   give it to me in writing

7. (modifier) related to or used in writing

   writing ink

8. a sign or signs of approaching disaster

Other Word Forms

• self-writing adjective
• unwriting adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of writing¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English; write + -ing ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of writing¹

sense 8: allusion to Daniel 5:5

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. writing on the wall. handwriting.

Example Sentences

But in most respects, he was Welty’s tireless enthusiast, even writing to the New Republic to defend her from a blistering review of her novel “Delta Wedding” in 1946.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“Make it Nick Út,” he reportedly told Mr. Robinson, as his subordinate was writing the caption and credit.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The show's fifth season has a healthy 86% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, although some reviewers were not completely enthused.

Read more on BBC

He has received an individual award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers for his financial writing, and was part of the Boston Herald team that won two others.

Read more on MarketWatch

But this year in particular, it was often the new seams of meaning and feeling actors found in canonical texts, or the emotional truth they brought to new writing, that most impressed me.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• article 
• book 
• document 
• essay 
• letter 
• literature 
• manuscript 
• novel 
• paper 
• piece 
• poem 
• prose 
• publication 
• review 
• theme 
• work