Standard Lemma guide

excerpt

noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɛɡzɜː(p)t/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɛɡˈzɜː(p)t/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɛkˈsɜː(p)t/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɛksɜː(p)t/
  • Canada, General-American: /ˈɛɡzɝ(p)t/
  • Canada, General-American: /ɛɡˈzɝ(p)t/
  • Canada, General-American: /ɛkˈsɝ(p)t/
  • Canada, General-American: /ˈɛksɝ(p)t/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian: /ˈeɡzɜː(p)t/
  • Australian: /eɡˈzɜː(p)t/
  • Australian: /ekˈsɜː(p)t/
  • Australian: /ˈeksɜː(p)t/
  • CMU ARPABET: EH1 K S ER0 P T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: EH0 K S ER1 P T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work such as a news article, a film, or a literary composition.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To select or copy sample material (excerpts) from a work.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a passage selected from a larger work

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he presented excerpts from William James' philosophical writings

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: excerption, extract, selection

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: passage

Narrower terms: chrestomathy, analects, analecta, clipping, newspaper clipping, press clipping, cutting, press cutting, cut, track, quotation, quote, citation, Haftorah, Haftarah, Haphtorah, Haphtarah

4

verb

Meaning 4

take out of a literary work in order to cite or copy

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: extract, take out

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: choose, take, select, pick out

History

Etymology

From Latin excerptus, past participle of excerpere (“to pick out”), from ex (“out”) + carpere (“to pick, pluck”).

Across languages

Translations

56 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: نبذة – مقتطفات من — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Bulgarian: откъс (otkǎs) — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Bulgarian: извадка (izvadka) — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Catalan: extracte — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Chinese Mandarin: 摘录 (zhāilù) — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Chinese Mandarin: 節錄 /节录 (jiélù) — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Czech: výňatek — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Danish: uddrag — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Danish: excerpt — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Dutch: fragment — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Dutch: passage — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Finnish: poiminto — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Finnish: ote — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Finnish: katkelma — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • French: extrait — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • French: passage — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Georgian: ამონარიდი (amonaridi) — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • German: Auszug — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • German: Exzerpt — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Greek: απόσπασμα (apóspasma) — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Hebrew: קֶטַע (qéta') — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Hebrew: מוּבָאָה (muva'a) — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Hungarian: kivonat — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Hungarian: szemelvény — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Icelandic: brot — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Icelandic: hluti — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Indonesian: cuplikan — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Italian: estratto — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Japanese: 抜粋 (bassui) — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Japanese: 抄録 (shōroku) — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Latin: excerptum — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Māori: wāhanga — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Marathi: उतारा (utārā) — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Norwegian: utdrag — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Polish: fragment — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Polish: urywek — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Portuguese: trecho — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Portuguese: passagem — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Portuguese: excerto — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Russian: отры́вок (otrývok) — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Russian: вы́держка (výderžka) — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Slovene: odlomek — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Slovene: izvleček — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Slovene: izsek — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Spanish: excerpta — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Spanish: excerta — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Swedish: utdrag — a clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work
  • Chinese Mandarin: 摘录 (zhāilù) — to select or copy sample material (excerpts) from a work
  • Finnish: lainata — to select or copy sample material (excerpts) from a work
  • Finnish: kopioida — to select or copy sample material (excerpts) from a work
  • French: extraire — to select or copy sample material (excerpts) from a work
  • German: exzerpieren — to select or copy sample material (excerpts) from a work
  • Indonesian: mencuplik — to select or copy sample material (excerpts) from a work
  • Italian: estrarre — to select or copy sample material (excerpts) from a work
  • Russian: де́лать выдержки (délatʹ) — to select or copy sample material (excerpts) from a work
  • Russian: подбира́ть цитаты (podbirátʹ) — to select or copy sample material (excerpts) from a work
Real reading context

excerpt in complete knowledge articles