Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense writes, present participle writing, past tense wrote, past participle written
1. verb
When you write something on a surface, you use something such as a pen or pencil to produce words,letters, or numbers on the surface.
If you'd like one, simply write your name and address on a postcard and send it tous. [VERB noun adverb/preposition]
They were still trying to teach her to read and write. [VERB]
He wrote the word 'pride' in huge letters on the blackboard. [VERB noun]
2. verb
If you write something such as a book, a poem, or a piece of music, you create it and record it on paper or perhaps on a computer.
I had written quite a lot of orchestral music in my student days. [VERB noun]
Finding a volunteer to write the computer program isn't a problem. [VERB noun]
Thereafter she wrote articles for papers and magazines in Paris. [VERB noun + for]
Jung Lu wrote me a poem once. [VERB noun noun]
Synonyms: compose, create, author, draft More Synonyms of write
3. verb
Someone who writes creates books, stories, or articles, usually for publication.
Jay wanted to write. [VERB]
She writes for many papers, including the Sunday Times. [VERB + for]
He now works in industry and writes on science in his spare time. [Von/about n]
4. verb
When you writeto someone or write them an email or a letter, you give them information, ask them something, or express your feelings in an email or letter. In American English, you can also write someone.
Many people have written to me on this subject. [VERB + to]
She had written him a note a couple of weeks earlier. [VERB noun noun]
I wrote a letter to the car rental agency, explaining what had happened. [VERB noun + to]
Why didn't you write, call, anything? [VERB]
He had written her in Italy but received no reply. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: correspond, get in touch, keep in touch, write a letter More Synonyms of write
5. nothing to write home about
6. verb
If someone writes that something is the case, they say it in a letter, book, or article.
'Some six months later,' Freud writes, 'Hans had got over his jealousy.'. [VERB with quote]
A few days later he wrote that he had hopes of a staff job. [VERB that]
7. verb
When someone writes something such as a receipt or a prescription, they put the necessary information on it and usually sign it.
Snape wrote a receipt with a gold fountain pen. [VERB noun]
He wrote me a prescription for an anti-anxiety medication. [VERB noun noun]
[Also VERB noun + for]
Write out means the same as write.
We went straight to the estate agent and wrote out a cheque. [VERBPARTICLE noun]
Get my assistant to write you out a receipt before you leave. [VERB noun PARTICLE noun]
[Also VERB noun PARTICLE]
8. verb
If you writeto a computer or a disk, you record data on it.
[computing]
You should write-protect all disks that you do not usually need to write to. [V n + to/onto]
9. See also writing, written
Phrasal verbs:
See write back
See write down
See write in
See write into
See write off
See write out
See write up
More Synonyms of write
write in British English
(raɪt)
verbWord forms: writes, writing, wrote or written
1.
to draw or mark (symbols, words, etc) on a surface, usually paper, with a pen, pencil, or other instrument
2.
to describe or record (ideas, experiences, etc) in writing
3.
to compose (a letter) to or correspond regularly with (a person, organization, etc)
4. (tr; may take a clause as object)
to say or communicate by letter
he wrote that he was on his way
5. (transitive) informal, mainly US and Canadian
to send a letter to (a person, etc)
6.
to write (words) in cursive as opposed to printed style
7. (transitive)
to be sufficiently familiar with (a specified style, language, etc) to use it in writing
8.
to be the author or composer of (books, music, etc)
9. (transitive)
to fill in the details for (a document, form, etc)
10. (transitive)
to draw up or draft
11. (transitive)
to produce by writing
she wrote ten pages
12. (transitive)
to show clearly
envy was written all over his face
13. (transitive)
to spell, inscribe, or entitle
14. (transitive)
to ordain or prophesy
it is written
15. (transitive)
to sit (an examination)
16. (intransitive)
to produce writing as specified
17. computing
to record (data) in a location in a storage device
Compare read1 (sense 16)
18. (transitive) Compare underwrite (sense 3a)
Derived forms
writable (ˈwritable)
adjective
Word origin
Old English wrītan (originally: to scratch runes into bark); related to Old Frisian wrīta, Old Norse rīta, Old High German rīzan (German reissen to tear)
to form or inscribe (words, letters, symbols, etc.) on a surface, as by cutting, carving, embossing, or, esp., marking with a pen or pencil
b.
to form the words, letters, or symbols of with pencil, chalk, typewriter, etc.; put down in a form to be read
to write a paragraph, a formula, etc.
2.
to form or inscribe (words) in cursive style
see also print (sense 17)
3.
to spell (a name, word, etc.)
words written alike are often pronounced differently
4.
to know (a specific alphabet, language, etc.) well enough to communicate in writing
5.
to be the author or composer of (literary or musical material)
6.
to draw up or compose in legal form
7.
to fill in (a check, money order, etc.) with necessary writing
8.
to cover with writing
to write three pages
9.
to communicate in writing
he wrote that he would be late
10.
to communicate with in writing; write a letter or note to
write her before you go
11.
to entitle or designate in writing
he writes himself “Judge”
12.
to underwrite
13.
to leave marks, signs, or evidence of; show clearly
greed was written on his face
14. Computing
to record (information) in a computer's memory or on a tape, etc. for use by a computer
to write a file to a disk
verb intransitive
15.
to form or inscribe words, letters, symbols, etc. on a surface, esp. by making markswith a pen or pencil
16.
to form words in cursive style
see also print (sense 23)
17.
to write books or other literary matter; be an author or writer
18.
to write a letter or letters
19.
to be employed at written work, as a clerk, copyist, etc.
20.
to produce writing of a specified kind
to write legibly, a pen that writes scratchily
Idioms:
write down
write in
write off
write out
write up
Word origin
ME writen < OE writan, to scratch, engrave, write, akin to Ger reissen, to tear < IE base *wer-, to tear off, scratch > Gr rhinē, a rasp
More idioms containing
write
be nothing to write home about
Examples of 'write' in a sentence
write
Write a letter and say you will tackle the problem.
The Sun (2017)
He asked the journalist how he could write something without apparently being able to prove that it had taken place.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Write a letter telling him you love him and explaining why you felt driven to lie in the first place.
The Sun (2016)
It's amazingly convenient for writing tunes and recording them at home.
The Sun (2016)
When a woman writes something it's her that is judged.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It's true that she wrote a letter.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
He wrote letters to their British boarding schools announcing that he would not pay their fees.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
So it seemed like a natural thing to approach his publisher and see if there was away of persuading him to write something new.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The fact that something he wrote literally drunk in his pavilion is now going to be in actual print at 60 years old.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Think of the difference between speaking and writing.
Goshgarian, Gary Exploring language (6th edn) (1995)
It is something that is probably going to be written in the record books.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
We have normal conversations but they have to sell books and you have to write something.
The Sun (2009)
This has also involved me searching my files for letters they have written to me.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
They end up writing their own cheques.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Then he would usually write his own ending.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
It seems paradoxical to suggest that you will discover what you want to write by writing.
Bachmann, Susan (editor) & Barth, Melinda Between Worlds: A Reader, Rhetoric and Handbook (1995)
The four women looked at each other then wrote something down again.
Carlos Acosta No Way Home: A Cuban Dancer's Tale (2007)
She is writing a letter to him to ask for a meeting.
The Sun (2016)
The young actor has been told he can basically write his own cheque.
The Sun (2010)
The money you owe can usually be written off.
The Sun (2013)
He reinvented the genre of sports writing.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
It was written by something outside of myself through me.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Forgiveness is more like writing a book than writing a letter.
Christianity Today (2000)
It takes patience to write something meaningful.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Lansdown is the man writing the cheques.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
It was always intended that there would be at least one written record in the form of the minutes.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Republicans do not usually write such things about their likely nominees just a few weeks before the first vote.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
We then reunited, realised the chemistry and wrote the record.
The Sun (2009)
Writing it down slowed my pulse, literally.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Just writing, recording and having family time.
The Sun (2012)
He wrote her nice letters, one of which she rightly has framed.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Usually he writes a book during the holidays, but this year he has to pack.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
What is it about writing about writing that gets up people's noses?
The Times Literary Supplement (2014)
Quotations
No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for moneySamuel Johnson
In other languages
write
British English: write /raɪt/ VERB
When you write something on a surface, you use something such as a pen or pencil to produce words, letters, or numbers on it.
They were still trying to teach her to read and write.
She took a card out and wrote an address on it.
American English: write
Arabic: يَكْتُبُ
Brazilian Portuguese: escrever
Chinese: 写
Croatian: pisati
Czech: psát
Danish: skrive
Dutch: schrijven
European Spanish: escribir
Finnish: kirjoittaa
French: écrire
German: schreiben
Greek: γράφω
Italian: scrivere
Japanese: 書く
Korean: 글씨를 쓰다
Norwegian: skrive
Polish: napisać
European Portuguese: escrever
Romanian: a scrie
Russian: писать
Latin American Spanish: escribir
Swedish: skriva
Thai: เขียน
Turkish: yazmak
Ukrainian: писати
Vietnamese: viết
All related terms of 'write'
write in
If you write in to an organization , you send them a letter.
write off
If you write off to a company or organization , you send them a letter , usually asking for something.
write out
When you write out something fairly long such as a report or a list , you write it on paper .
write up
If you write up something that has been done or said , you record it on paper in a neat and complete form, usually using notes that you have made.
ghost-write
If a book or other piece of writing is ghost-written , it is written by a writer for another person, for example a politician or sportsman , who then publishes it as his or her own work.
write back
If you write back to someone who has sent you a letter , you write them a letter in reply .
write cover
If an insurance company writes cover , it underwrites a risk or insures someone.
write down
When you write something down , you record it on a piece of paper using a pen or pencil .
write into
If a rule or detail is written into a contract , law, or agreement , it is included in it when the contract, law, or agreement is made.
write music
Music is the pattern of sounds produced by people singing or playing instruments.
write-protect
to protect (a computer disk ) from accidental writing or erasure
write-protected
(of a computer disk ) having been protected from accidental writing or erasure
write a letter
If you write a letter to someone, you write a message on paper and send it to them, usually by post .
read-write head
an electromagnet that can both read and write information on a magnetic medium such as magnetic tape or disk
read-write memory
a type of computer memory that you can write to as well as read from
write a message
A message is a piece of information or a request that you send to someone or leave for them when you cannot speak to them directly .
write an article
An article is a piece of writing that is published in a newspaper or magazine .
write-protect notch
a cut-out on a floppy disk that determines whether a disk is writable
write the book on
to be the definitive authority or expert on
nothing to write home about
If you say that something is nothing to write home about , you mean that it is not very interesting or exciting .
be nothing to write home about
to be not very interesting , exciting , or special