append

verb

ap·​pend ə-ˈpend How to pronounce append (audio)
appended; appending; appends

transitive verb

1
: attach, affix
appended a diagram to the instructions
2
: to add as a supplement or appendix (as in a book)
notes appended to each chapter

Did you know?

Add Append Onto Your Vocabulary

Append is a somewhat formal word. Lawyers, for example, often speak of appending items to other documents, and lawmakers frequently append small bills to big ones, hoping that everyone will be paying attention only to the main part of the big bill and won't notice. When we append a small separate section to the end of a report or a book, we call it an appendix. But in the early years of email, the words we decided on were attach and attachment, probably because appendixes are thought of as unimportant, whereas the attachment is often the whole reason for sending an email.

Example Sentences

append the prefix “un-” to each of these words
Recent Examples on the Web However, most legacy blue check holders found this weekend that their verification marks had not disappeared, but rather had been appended with a different label from the new blue checks. Alexandra Meeks, CNN, 6 Apr. 2023 The little pictures have been hijacking some of the !’s traditional territory, appending expressions of feeling in text messages. Florence Hazrat, Washington Post, 17 Mar. 2023 One person had reposted the message with his contact details appended. Saritha Rai, Fortune, 30 Mar. 2023 The memo also appended an email template that advisors can send to clients. Weilun Soon, WSJ, 20 Mar. 2023 People has appended an editor’s note to its May 2021 cover story, noting that Smithline has retracted her claims. Gene Maddaus, Variety, 24 Feb. 2023 Namely, lawyer Preston Byrne proposed that authors should append a cryptographic hash to the cover of their books. Jeff John Roberts, Fortune Crypto, 21 Feb. 2023 The books’ new owners will append the stories that suit them. Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 10 Nov. 2022 Yet O’Brien does often append random objects: A metal cleat is attached to the top of one piece, and another contains a cosmetics organizer filled with shards of a ceramic vessel. Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 30 Sep. 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'append.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Latin appendere, to hang, weigh out, from ad- + pendere to weigh — more at pendant

First Known Use

circa 1509, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of append was circa 1509

Dictionary Entries Near append

Cite this Entry

“Append.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/append. Accessed 28 May. 2023.

Kids Definition

append

verb
ap·​pend ə-ˈpend How to pronounce append (audio)
: to add as something extra
append a postscript to a letter

More from Merriam-Webster on append

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!