redaction

noun

re·dac·tion ri-ˈdak-shən

: an act or instance of redacting something

: a work that has been redacted : edition, version

redactional

ri-ˈdak-shnəl

-shə-nᵊl

adjective

Did you know?

Here's a quiz for all you etymology buffs. Can you pick the words from the following list that come from the same Latin root?

A. redaction B. prodigal C. agent D. essay
E. navigate F. ambiguous

If you guessed all of them, you are right. Now, for bonus points, name the Latin root that they all have in common. If you knew that it is the verb agere, meaning to "to drive, lead, act, or do," you get an A+. Redaction is from the Latin verb redigere ("to bring back" or "to reduce"), which was formed by adding the prefix red- (meaning "back") to agere. Some other agere offspring include act, agenda, cogent, litigate, chasten, agile, and transact.

Examples of redaction in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The judge is also sitting on a nearly two-month-old request by Mr. Smith to permit redactions to be made to several of Mr. Trump’s own filings to protect the identities of witnesses who might testify for the government at trial. —

Alan Feuer, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2024 The $525 price, though waived, and redactions create barriers to a basic level of government record created for the public to see, experts said. —

Dave Boucher, Detroit Free Press, 17 Mar. 2024 The redaction in this photo was made by the New Orleans Police Department to protect the identity of the victim. —

Carolyn Van Houten, Washington Post, 14 Mar. 2024 Carrier names and tail numbers are blurred or absent in the videos, consistent with tail-number redactions in documents the Washington human rights center has gradually received from ICE in the years after its 2019 reports. —

Mckenzie Funk, ProPublica, 8 Mar. 2024 Silvestre said the school board has been reevaluating its redactions to see if any more content could be shared publicly. —

Nicole Asbury, Washington Post, 7 Feb. 2024 The incriminating findings with redactions were kept secret until July 2016. —

Bruce Fein, Baltimore Sun, 5 Feb. 2024 On top of that, the GAO found, the Administrative Office has at times ignored its legal requirement to submit annual reports to Congress on how judges are using their redaction authority. —

Brett Murphy, ProPublica, 13 Dec. 2023 Thirty-eight of those cases were provided to the Statesman without redactions of the outcomes. —

Rachel Spacek, Idaho Statesman, 25 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'redaction.' 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

French rédaction, from Late Latin redaction-, redactio act of reducing, compressing, from Latin redigere to bring back, reduce, from re-, red- re- + agere to lead — more at agent

First Known Use

1785, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of redaction was in 1785

See more words from the same year