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Glite Dictionary
📖 To create stories ✍️ To form letters ✉️ To send a message 💻 To code 🎼 To compose music
to write

to write

∞ 1.6
Create a story or poem by putting words together
  • verb
  • /raɪt/
  • Literature
translation icon : escribir
  • The students were excited to write stories for the school competition.
  • write a book
  • write a story
  • write a poem

And there were plans to write more of these novels.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • What made you want to write this particular book?

    Tom Bilyeu

  • Twelve authors would each pick a month to write about in the context of landscape.

    Academic text (2011)

  • You just sit down and write a book, a short book.

    Big Think

  • This is the time for you to write and finish those songs.

  • I want you to direct or write something for me.

    IMPAULSIVE

  • And there were plans to write more of these novels.

    Gregory B. Sadler - That Philosophy Guy

  • I'm trying to write about them at the moment.

    All of Us Strangers (2023)

  • You're going to write a great book...

    The Hustler (1961)

  • Jane has attempted for thirty years to write one sonnet each fortnight, beginning Monday morning.

    Academic text (2013)

  • After years of practice, she finally managed to write her first novel.

Synonyms

to create
vsto write
638 3.4

To make things like paintings, music, or stories for enjoyment

is specific to producing literary texts rather than general artistic work
to compose
vsto write
102 3.5

To make writing, music, or a plan

limits use to making literary texts rather than varied kinds of content
to author
vsto write
  • Formal
41 4.2

To write a book or article

is about producing the text itself rather than being named creator
to pen
vsto write
  • Literature
11 6.0

To write something carefully, often a long text

focuses less on careful formality and more on general literary production
to indite
vsto write
  • Archaic
9.9

To write a formal text like a speech or poem

is broader, covers making literary works in any style

Idioms

to write the book on
6 7.6

To be the leading expert on a subject

to write one's own ticket
  • Informal
5 7.7

To be able to choose your own job or future because you are successful

to write home about
  • Informal
1 7.3

To be good or special enough to tell people at home about

to write checks you can't cash
  • Informal
1 9.5

To promise something you cannot do

to write for the drawer
  • Informal
9.4

Make stories or poems and keep them private, not share them

Phrasal Verbs

to write about
620 2.1

Give details in words about a topic, for example in a book or article

to write down
214 1.1

Put information on paper to help you remember it later

to write in
54 4.2

Send a message to a radio show to say what you think

to write up
38 3.5

Put information into a complete report

to write on
34 3.6

To produce texts like articles or books about a subject

to write off
  • Specialized
27 4.8

To cancel a debt or reduce an asset's value in accounts

to write out
25 2.4

Put all the details on a form or paper

to write off
23 4.8

To accept that something cannot be fixed or is not worth more attention

to write up
  • Literature
14 4.3

Make a report about someone that appears in news or an official file

to write in
  • US
8 6.3

Add the name of a person not on the ballot as your vote

to write itself
  • Informal
8 5.2

To develop easily and naturally without much effort

to write off
  • Informal
3 4.1

To put words down quickly without much thought

to write copy
  • Jargon
2 4.4

To make short text for ads and marketing

Compounds

write-up
  • Literature
21 3.9

A short article that describes an event, often in a newspaper or magazine

write-in
  • US
18 7.0

A vote for a person whose name the voter adds to the ballot

write-off
  • Specialized
17 5.7

Removing the value of a debt or asset from accounts when it cannot be paid

tax write-off
  • US
6 3.8

An amount you can subtract from your income to reduce the tax you pay

write-in candidate
  • US
5 6.9

A person not on the ballot who people choose by writing their name

write-down
  • Specialized
4 6.4

A reduction in the value of something a company owns to show it is now worth less

compact disc write-once
  • Specialized
6.5

A CD you can record on once and then only read

How Careful

to author
  • Formal
41 4.2
to compose
102 3.5
to write
  • Literature
∞ 1.6
to jot down
  • Informal
27 2.9
to scribble
55 3.5

Surface Forms

write infinitive
writing present participle
writes third person singular
wrote past
written past participle

Etymology

Write comes from an old English word writan meaning 'to scratch' or 'to draw lines'. So to write a story is like making marks that keep your ideas on the page, which is why we use the same word for creating books and poems.