redaction

noun

re·​dac·​tion ri-ˈdak-shən 

1

: an act or instance of redacting something

2

: a work that has been redacted : edition, version

redactional

ri-ˈdak-sh(ə-)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 45-year-old singer had initially sued to block the release of the footage but later agreed to the redactions as part of a settlement. —Mitchell Peters, Billboard, 21 Mar. 2026

Officer body camera footage of Justin Timberlake’s 2024 arrest in Sag Harbor, New York was released Friday, after the singer agreed to redactions as part of a settlement of his privacy lawsuit against the local police department. —Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 20 Mar. 2026

Now, Timberlake's legal team and the Village of Sag Harbor have come to an agreement on the release of the footage with redactions, court records show. —Jesse Zanger, CBS News, 20 Mar. 2026

Lawmakers have accused the Justice Department of withholding too many files and criticized the agency for haphazard redactions that exposed intimate details about victims. —Alanna Durkin Richer, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2026

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

Rhymes for redaction

• abstraction
• attraction
• compaction
• contraction
• detraction
• diffraction
• distraction
• exaction
• extraction
• impaction
• inaction
• infraction

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