word for word

adverb

1. in exactly the same words; verbatim.
2. one word at a time, without regard for the sense of the whole:

   She translated the book word for word.

Other Words From

• word-for-word adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of word for word¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

Idioms and Phrases

Exactly as written or spoken, as in That was the forecast, word for word . Chaucer used this idiom in the late 1300s.

Example Sentences

The real opera sets Pushkin’s play, which was written as a response to Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” word for word.

From Los Angeles Times

"I sat down for 12 hours in one day, learning it word for word, note for note," he says.

From BBC

At points, she repeated lines almost word for word: “When we organize, mountains move,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times

The language about the dearth of mental health facilities in Appalachia in a 1988 monograph is nearly word for word identical to quotes from articles published in 2017.

From Salon

It repeated, word for word, an article that had appeared a day before under a different byline on the website for RT, Russia’s global television network.

From New York Times