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text

Syllabification: (text)
Pronunciation: /tekst/

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Definition of text

noun

  • 1a book or other written or printed work, regarded in terms of its content rather than its physical form:a text that explores pain and grief
  • a piece of written or printed material regarded as conveying the authentic or primary form of a particular work:in some passages it is difficult to establish the original text the text of the lecture was available to guests
  • written or printed words, typically forming a connected piece of work:stylistic features of journalistic text
  • Computing data in the form of words or alphabetic characters.
  • 2 [in singular] the main body of a book or other piece of writing, as distinct from other material such as notes, appendices, and illustrations:the pictures are clear and relate well to the text
  • a script or libretto.
  • 3a written work chosen or assigned as a subject of study:the book is intended as a secondary text for religion courses
  • a textbook.
  • a passage from the Bible or other religious work, especially when used as the subject of a sermon.
  • a subject or theme for a discussion or exposition:he took as his text the fact that Australia is paradise
  • 4a text message.
  • 5 (also text-hand) fine, large handwriting, used especially for manuscripts.

verb

[with object]
  • send a text message to:I thought it was fantastic that he took the trouble to text me (as noun texting)stricter regulations against texting while driving

Derivatives

texter

noun

textless

adjective

Origin:

late Middle English: from Old Northern French texte, from Latin textus 'tissue, literary style' (in medieval Latin, 'Gospel'), from text- 'woven', from the verb texere

text in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of text in the British & World English dictionary
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