Writing

//ˈɹaɪtɪŋ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Top 500 ·Middle school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Graphism of symbols such as letters that express some meaning. uncountable

    "Because writing of any kind is no more and no less than a graphic representation of speech[…], to study its nature and history we must often have recourse to the speech, that is, to the language, that the writing writes."

  2. 2
    the activity of putting something in written form wordnet
  3. 3
    Something written, such as a document, article or book. countable
  4. 4
    the act of creating written works wordnet
  5. 5
    The process of representing a language with symbols or letters. uncountable
Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    letters or symbols that are written or imprinted on a surface to represent the sounds or words of a language wordnet
  2. 7
    A work of an author. countable

    "Congrats, you did an interesting piece of writing."

  3. 8
    the work of a writer; anything expressed in letters of the alphabet (especially when considered from the point of view of style and effect) wordnet
  4. 9
    The style of writing of a person. countable

    "I can't read your writing."

  5. 10
    (usually plural) the collected work of an author wordnet
  6. 11
    Intended for or used in writing. countable, uncountable

    "a writing table"

Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of write form-of, gerund, participle, present

    "What are you doing? ― Um, I’m writing. ― You are writing! You are writing a lot!"

Synonyms

All synonyms
textabecedaryalphabetalphabetalphabetic characterart

Example

More examples

"I utterly despise formal writing!"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English writing, writyng, wryting, wrytyng, from Old English wrīting (“writing”), equivalent to write + -ing.

Etymology 2

From Middle English writinge, wrytynge, writende, writand, from Old English wrītende, present participle of Old English wrītan (“to scratch, carve, write”), equivalent to write + -ing.

Related phrases

automatic writingcreative writinge-writingfood writingfood-writingin writingmajuscule writingnight writingnot worth writing home aboutpacket writingput in writingsky writing

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.