writing

American  

[rahy-ting] / ˈraɪ tɪŋ /

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.

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idioms

1. writing on the wall. handwriting.

writing British  

/ 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

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Other Word Forms

• self-writing adjective
• unwriting adjective

Etymology

Origin of writing

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

Example Sentences

Douglass, the most famous Black man in America, exchanged frequent letters with Amy, writing, “Your family was always very dear to me …”

From Literature

I’ve gone from broadcasting a daily radio show, writing a weekly column, flying to deliver at least one lecture a week, and taking at least one listener cruise a year to a bedridden life.

From The Wall Street Journal

EDF, which took a charge of roughly £1.5 billion on the latest delay after writing off nearly £13 billion in 2024, said last week it is “continuing to seek solutions to cover funding requirements.”

From The Wall Street Journal

“The writing is the beginning of my job and this was so well written. But I wouldn’t be able to play someone unless I could totally be in their point of view.”

From Los Angeles Times

It’s not yet confirmed which book will be adapted for Season 5, but Brownell is already in the writing process and knows where she wants the narrative to go.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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