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
Stackcommerce Team, PC Magazine, 9 Mar. 2026
Documents released since December have included redaction errors, leaked victim identities, and ongoing complaints of mishandling by department officials.
—Alanna Durkin Richer, Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2026
During a fiery congressional hearing last month, Democrats excoriated Bondi over haphazard redactions in the Epstein files that exposed intimate details about victims and included nude photographs.
—Arkansas Online, 5 Mar. 2026
Congress voted in December to force the Justice Department to release all of the Epstein files with limited redactions to protect victims and their identities.
—Sarah D. Wire, USA Today, 4 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for redaction
Cite this Entry
“Redaction.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redaction. Accessed 13 Mar. 2026.
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