Word of the Day

: March 14, 2016

verbatim

adverb ver-BAY-tim

What It Means

: in the exact words : word for word

verbatim in Context

The coach was quoted verbatim in the article announcing that she would retire at the end of the season.

"The year is 1993. Carlito's Way is our favorite movie. We watched it at least 10 times. We knew the lines of our favorite scenes verbatim. Moya would play Gail, and I Carlito." — Dr. Kirk Anthony James, The Huffington Post, 2 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Latin has a phrase for "exactly as written": verbatim ac litteratim, which literally means "word for word and letter for letter." Like the verbatim in that Latin phrase, the English verbatim means "word for word." As you may have noticed, there's a verb in verbatim—and that's no mere coincidence. Both verb and verbatim are derived from the Latin word for "word," which is verbum. Other common English words that share this root include adverb, proverb, and verbose. Even the word word itself is related. Verbatim can also be an adjective meaning "being in or following the exact words" (as in "a verbatim report") and a rarer noun referring to an account, translation, or report that follows the original word for word.