Meaning of write in English

write

verb

/raɪt/ us

/raɪt/

wrote | written or old use writ

to make marks that represent letters, words, or numbers on a surface, such as paper or a computer screen, using a pen, pencil, or keyboard, or to use this method to record thoughts, facts, or messages:

write legibly When you fill in the form, please write legibly in black ink.

write clearly

[ + speech ] "I hope to see you next Saturday," she wrote.

write something (down) Why not write (down) your ideas on a piece of paper before you start?

A2 [ I or T ]

to send a letter or message to someone, giving them information or expressing your thoughts or feelings:

write to She hasn't written to me (US also written me) recently.

[ + two objects ] I wrote my sister a letter.

[ + to infinitive ] My mother wrote to give me details about the party.

[ + -ing verb ] The travel company has written giving information about the trip.

[ T ]

(also write something out)

to put all the information that is needed on a document:

write something in full Please will you write (out) your name and address in full.

[ + two objects ] I wrote him a cheque for £50.

B1 [ T ]

to create and record something, such as a book, poem, song, or computer program, on paper or on a computer:

She writes children's books/poems.

Adam designed and wrote the software.

write something for something He wrote music for films and TV shows.

The book is very well written.

B1 [ I ]

to have the job of creating books, stories, or articles that will be published:

write for She writes for a national newspaper.

[ + that ]

to say something in a book, newspaper, magazine, or document:

write that In the article, he writes that the problems in the refugee camps are getting worse.

[ I ] computing specialized

to record information in the memory of a computer:

write to There was a problem writing to the disk in the A drive.

More examplesFewer examples

Please write in ink, not in pencil.
He wrote a letter of thanks to the hospital.
He writes in a formal and rather stilted style.
I've written twice and received no reply, so I might change tack and call her.
She sat at her desk writing letters.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Writing & typing

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Communicating & keeping in touch

Operating computers

Idioms

nothing to write home about
written all over someone's face
written in the stars

Phrasal verbs

write back
write something down
write in
write someone in
write something into something
write something off
write someone/something off
write off/away for something
write someone out of something
write something up

More phrasal verbs

write someone up

(Definition of write from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

write | American Dictionary

write

verb [ I/T ]

/rɑɪt/

past tense wrote us/roʊt/ | past participle written us/ˈrɪt·ən/

write verb [I/T] (CREATE)

Add to word list Add to word list

to create something for other people to read or use, such as a book, poem, letter, or piece of music:

[ T ] to write a poem/a story/a textbook

[ T ] They wrote some of the best songs of the 70s.

[ T ] They have written computer software to handle our sales records.

[ T ] Hammond wrote a letter to his mother/wrote his mother a letter.

[ I ] He writes well and is always a pleasure to read.

To write is also to put letters, words, numbers, or symbols on a paper, screen, or other surface using a pen, pencil, keyboard (= the keys of a computer), etc.:

[ T ] Please write your name on the dotted line.

Someone whose job is to write creates articles, stories, or books to be published:

[ I ] She writes for the New York Times.

To write also means to express an idea or opinion in an article, book, etc.:

[ + that clause ] He writes that our highways are getting safer.

Phrasal verbs

write down something
write in
write in someone
write off something
write off someone/something
write out something
write up something/someone

(Definition of write from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

write | Business English

write

verb

/raɪt/ us

wrote | written

Add to word list Add to word list

[ I or T ]

to put letters, numbers or symbols on a piece of paper or a computer screen, using a pen, pencil or keyboard:

Write your name and address on the form.

The negative figures were written in red.

[ I or T ]

to create a document in order to supply information or communicate with someone:

He wrote a letter of complaint to the Customer Services Department.

A report written by the finance committee made several cost-cutting recommendations.

written communication/confirmation/statement

[ T ]

(also write sth out)

to put all the necessary information on a form:

They wrote me a cheque for $5,000 in compensation.

[ T ] INSURANCE

to provide insurance:

The bank does not write its own insurance but offers building and contents cover through a third party.

[ T ] IT

to record data in the memory of a computer or a disk:

write sth to sth The file failed to write to disk because it was too large.

[ T ] IT

to create a computer program:

The computer package was specially written for market research purposes.

Phrasal verbs

write sth back
write sth down
write sth into sth
write sth off
write sb/sth off
write sth up

(Definition of write from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of write

write

I consider this book to be written in a "tutorial" style.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Only the third section of this long work was written in octosyllabic couplets, and this section is known to have been written after 1170.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Measures of the children's written language skills and phonological awareness were also taken.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The shape and shading of nodes will save us from writing controls in diagrams.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Our own analysis is not written from the point of view of a religious believer.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We use the convention that object language expressions are written in teletype and metalanguage expressions in italic.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A measure of second language writing anxiety: scale development and preliminary validation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The present study examines expressions of identity in a corpus of multimodal texts written by four multilingual graduate student writers.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, these hybrid aspects are clearly exceptional in the written data examined here.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

As to methodology, the authors combine a macrosociological and quantitative approach (using a written survey) with ethnography (meetings of focus groups).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Multiple regression then identified which variable(s) are more important or contr ibute more to writing scores.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the written version, there is the tension of the "dangling" old.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Part of the point of this article is to cast that kind of reification of written forms into doubt.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Although it is written from the perspective of linguistics, it is also accessible to people in other relevant disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, and education.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The score range is usually 1 through 6, where 1 indicates a poorly written essay, and 6 indicates a well-written essay.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of write

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of write?

Translations of write

in Chinese (Traditional)

寫，書寫, 寫（字）, （給…）寫信…

Meaning of write in English

Idioms

Phrasal verbs

write | American Dictionary

write verb [I/T] (CREATE)

Phrasal verbs

write | Business English

Phrasal verbs

Examples of write

Translations of write

Browse

Learn more with +Plus

Learn more with +Plus