Showing results for "writing"

• present participle of write.

writing

American  

[rahy-ting] / ˈraɪ tɪŋ /

noun

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

2. written form.

   to commit one's thoughts to writing.

3. that which is written; characters or matter 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 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

Explanation

Writing is the act of putting pen to paper...or fingers to keyboard...or even thumbs to phone pad. Any time you record language in script, whether that's a tweet or the next great American novel, you're writing. If you promise your first-born son to the strange lady next door, she might say, "put it in writing," which means she's probably not a witch and relies on the law to get things done, because things written down are more binding than mere speech. You can also use writing to refer to the collected work of a single author or group. You might adore the writing of Mark Twain. Or do you prefer writing about vampires?

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

writing

Kyle Chayka, a journalist at The New Yorker focused on technology, says AI writing is now widely considered to be "generic, obsequious and banal".

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

“The final cutoff is the undeniable writing on the wall,” says Jennifer Hershon, a family-estrangement coach based in Sacramento.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

While making small talk with series star and creator Rob Mac in the event’s green room, Sepinwall casually mentioned he was writing about Rod Serling, creator of “The Twilight Zone.”

From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2026

She also asked — again — that L.A. not be mad at her for writing “Ain’t in L.A.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

There was definitely writing there—but so tiny I had to climb again onto the cot and hold the paper close to the shaded bulb.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Related Words

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