the activity or skill of expressing thoughts, stories, or information with written words
She practices her writing every evening after dinner.
Good writing often begins with clear ideas and strong emotions.
✦ Old English wrīting ‘inscription, written expression’, from wrītan ‘to write’.
words, sentences, or longer texts that have been written, especially as a piece of work to read
The writings of Maya Angelou inspire readers around the world.
His travel writing vividly describes deserts and jungles.
the particular style in which someone forms letters and words when they write by hand
I couldn’t read the doctor’s writing on the prescription.
Her neat writing impressed the calligraphy teacher.
to form letters, words, or symbols on a surface such as paper, a screen, or a board using a pen, pencil, keyboard, or other tool
She writes neatly in her notebook every morning.
I learned to write my name when I was four.
✦ Old English "writan" meaning "to scratch, draw, inscribe".
Past participle of write.
She has written three letters today.
The story was written by my grandfather.
✦ Formed from Old English ‘writen’, past participle of ‘writan’ meaning “to carve, write”.
present participle of ‘write’: putting words on paper, a screen, or another surface to communicate
I am writing a thank-you note to my teacher.
She was writing her first novel when we met.
to create and organize words to produce something such as a story, article, song, or computer program
He wants to write a novel about his travels.
The journalist wrote an article on climate change.
✦ Old English "writan" shifting from "scratch" to "compose in words" during the Middle English period.
to send someone a letter, note, postcard, or email
Don't forget to write your grandmother a thank-you letter.
She wrote to me last week with the good news.
✦ Use of "write" meaning "communicate by letter" dates from the 12th century.
(computing) to record data onto a file, disk, memory chip, or other storage medium
The program writes the results to a log file every hour.
Make sure you write the changes to disk before shutting down.
✦ Technical sense developed in the mid-20th century with magnetic storage devices.
written by hand with a pen, pencil, or similar tool, rather than being printed or typed.
I received a beautiful handwritten letter from my best friend.
The handwritten card made the birthday extra special.
✦ Past participle of the verb 'handwrite', a compound of 'hand' + 'write', attested from the early 17th century.
to write something using a pen, pencil, or similar tool held in the hand, rather than by typing or printing.
Many students still prefer to handwrite their notes during lectures.
Grandma loves to handwrite letters to her grandchildren every week.
✦ Mid-17th century; formed from 'hand' + 'write', emphasizing the manual act of writing.
