Wiktionary

redact

English

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WOTD – 23 September 2011

Etymology

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From Old French redacter, from Latin redactus, perfect passive participle of redigō (“drive, lead, collect, reduce”), from re- (“back”) + agō (“put in motion, drive”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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redact (third-person singular simple present redacts, present participle redacting, simple past and past participle redacted)

  1. To censor, to black out or remove parts of a document while leaving the remainder.
    The military will redact the document before releasing it, blacking out sections that are classified.
    The names and email addresses of the users were redacted from the public data.
  2. (law) To black out legally protected sections of text in a document provided to opposing counsel, typically as part of the discovery process.
  3. To reduce to form, as literary matter; to digest and put in shape (matter for publication); to edit. [from 19th c.]
    • 1829, Robinson Hurst, “Memoires de Vidocq, Chéf de la Police de Sureté jusq' en 1827; aujourd' hui Proprietaire et Fabriquant de Papier à St Mandé.”, in The Monthly Review, volume 12, London: G. Henderson, page 278:
      […] the account of his second expedition was carefully redacted, […]
  4. (rare) To draw up or frame a decree, statement, etc. [from 19th c.]
  5. (obsolete) To bring together in one unit; to combine or bring together into one. [15th–16th c.]
    • c1475, Churchill Babington, editor, Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, Monachi Cestrensis; together with the English translations of John Trevisa and of an unknown writer of the fifteenth century.‎[2], volume 2, London: Longmans, Green, and Company, translation of original by Ranulf Higden, published 1869, page 273:
      Octauianus Augustus, his successor and nevewe, redacte in to oon monarchy the realmes of alle the worlde.
  6. (obsolete) To gather or organize works or ideas into a unified whole; to collect, order, or write in a written document or to put into a particular written form. [15th–17th c.]
    Synonym: collate
    • c1475, Joseph Rawson Lumby, editor, Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, Monachi Cestrensis; together with the English translations of John Trevisa and of an unknown writer of the fifteenth century.‎[3], volume 3, London: Longman & Company, translation of original by Ranulf Higden, published 1871, page 251:
      yere, laborede and founde the arte of logike; þe rewles of whom and causes of þe begynnenge Plato fyndenge encreasede hit moche; but Aristotille redacte hit in an arte.
  7. (obsolete, rare) To insert or assimilate into a written system or scheme. [16th c.]
  8. (obsolete, rare) To bring an area of study within the comprehension capacity of a person. [17th c.]
  9. (obsolete) To reduce to a particular condition or state, especially one that is undesirable. [16th–18th c.]
    • 1595, Robert Pitcairn, Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland: Comp. from the Original Records and Mss., with Historical Illustrations‎[4], volume 1, Edinburgh: William Tait, published 1833, section II, page 352:
      […] the grite penuritie and indigence quhairunto the puir handy-labouraris, and utheris his hienes subiectis of all esteatis ar redactit be that occasioun, […]
  10. (obsolete) To reduce something physical to a certain form, especially by destruction. [16th–17th c.]
    • 1554, Dean Thomas Guild, Monk of Newbattle, “Diploma of Thomas, Bishop of Orkney and Zetland, and the Chapter of Kirkwall, Addressed to Eric King of Norway, Respecting the Genealogy of William Saint Clair, Earl of Orkney.”, in The Bannatyne Miscellany; Containing Original Papers and Tracts, Chiefly Relating to the History and Literature of Scotland‎[5], volume 3, Edinburgh: Ballantyne and Company, published 1855, page 72:
      […] the principall mans or manerie of thame lordis Erilis of Orchadie hes beine syndrie tymis brint and redactit till nocht […]

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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