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

The funding sources had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing of the article, or the decision to submit it for publication.

From Science Daily

At times Mr. Bailey’s writing might stymie a reader’s intention to reach the end of the book.

From The Wall Street Journal

Initially, O'Farrell was unsure about being involved in the writing process for the film but said Zhao was a "very persuasive person".

From BBC

White also vented about the Trojans’ Alamo Bowl performance — writing “Do y’all ever practice tackling ever or is it always about offense?” — and having to endure more than two decades without a national title.

From Los Angeles Times

Hawk is coy on what exactly will come next, but says he has been writing new songs over the past several months.

From BBC

Related Words

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