writing

[ rahy-ting ]

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.

writing

/ 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. writing on the wall
   a sign or signs of approaching disaster

Other Words From

• self-writing adjective
• un·writing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of writing¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of writing¹

sense 8: allusion to Daniel 5:5

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. writing on the wall. handwriting ( def 4 ).

Example Sentences

What appears to be evidence of the oldest alphabetic writing in human history is etched onto finger-length, clay cylinders excavated from a tomb in Syria by a team of Johns Hopkins University researchers.

From Science Daily

The writing, which is dated to around 2400 BCE, precedes other known alphabetic scripts by roughly 500 years, upending what archaeologists know about where alphabets came from, how they are shared across societies, and what that could mean for early urban civilizations.

From Science Daily

"Alphabets revolutionized writing by making it accessible to people beyond royalty and the socially elite. Alphabetic writing changed the way people lived, how they thought, how they communicated," said Glenn Schwartz, a professor of archaeology at Johns Hopkins University who discovered the clay cylinders.

From Science Daily

Next to the pottery, the researchers found four lightly baked clay cylinders with what seems to be alphabetic writing on them.

From Science Daily

"Without a means to translate the writing, we can only speculate."

From Science Daily

Related Words

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