WordGarden.ioexcerpt
C2Pronunciation
UK
- /ɛksˈɜːpt/
US
- /ˈɛksərpt/
Meanings
Noun
a short selected passage from a longer work
Verb
to take or quote a short passage from a longer work
Beyond the definition
Imagine a delicious cake. You do not need to eat the whole thing to know how good it is, just a slice. An excerpt is like that slice, but for writing or speech. It is a short piece taken from something longer, such as a book, article, poem, speech, or document. Think of it as a small sample that gives you a quick look at the bigger picture. You might read one to get a feel for a writer's style before reading the full novel, or see one printed on the back of a book.
Sometimes they are used in court, where a short part of testimony is taken from a longer statement. Or maybe you are writing a research paper and use a brief passage from a book as support. It is all about choosing one useful part to show something larger.
An excerpt is a selected portion or passage taken from a larger work, usually a piece of writing such as a book, article, poem, play, speech, or document. It gives readers or listeners a sense of the whole without requiring them to go through the entire work.
The word comes from the Latin excerptus, meaning "picked out" or "selected." These selected passages are often used to introduce a larger work. A publisher might print part of a new novel to interest readers. Teachers use them in class to show a certain style, theme, or idea without assigning the whole text.
Context matters, though. It is not just any random section. It is usually chosen because it clearly shows something important, useful, or typical. A legal document might include part of witness testimony. A review might quote a few lines from a poem or speech. A historian might use selected passages from original documents to support an argument.
So whether you are previewing a new book, studying a poem in class, or looking at historical evidence, the idea stays the same: it is a carefully chosen part that stands for something larger, like a small window into the full work.
Examples
- 1
Public reading
She read an excerpt from her new novel at the bookstore.
- 2
Book preview
The website lets you preview an excerpt before you buy the book.
- 3
Legal source
The article included an excerpt from the judge's decision.
- 4
Classroom study
In class, we compared excerpts from two famous speeches.
More examplesFewer examples
- 5
Online leak
A leaked excerpt from the interview spread quickly online.
See also
Forms and spellings
4 forms open this card.
Main spelling
- excerptnounverb
Forms
- excerptspluralnounverb
- excerptedpast tenseverbnoun
- excerpting-ing formverbnoun