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

Alistair also takes an interest in the intellectual and developmental disabilities community, writing about the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine on people with autism, Down syndrome and other conditions.

From The Wall Street Journal

We’re not texting or phoning, just writing letters and sending postcards.

From Los Angeles Times

Navalny's widow Yulia has also marked the two-year anniversary of his death, writing in a social media post: "We have achieved truth and we will achieve justice one day too."

From BBC

Surely, writing one’s name amid the clouds is a gleeful exploitation of the buildings’ arrested progress, laying claim to one of the few spaces where nature and the city reliably meet.

From Los Angeles Times

But he faced bouts of writer’s block through his 20s and gave up writing.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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