Standard Lemma guide

screenwriter

noun · 2 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.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S K R IY1 N R AY2 T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

One who writes for the screen, who writes drama for film or television; especially a professional who knows the conventions appropriate to such work.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: scriptwriter

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: writer, author, person

2

noun

Meaning 2

someone who writes screenplays

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: film writer

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: scriptwriter

Narrower terms: Lucas, George Lucas, Trumbo, Dalton Trumbo

History

Etymology

From screen + writer.

Across languages

Translations

67 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Amharic: የፊልም ጸሐፊ (yäfilm ṣäḥäfi) — one who writes for the screen
  • Arabic: كَاتِب اَلسِّينَارْيُو (kātib as-sināryū) — one who writes for the screen
  • Armenian: սցենարիստ (scʻenarist) — one who writes for the screen
  • Basque: gidoilari — one who writes for the screen
  • Belarusian: кінасцэнары́ст (kinascenarýst) — one who writes for the screen
  • Belarusian: кінасцэнары́стка (kinascenarýstka) — one who writes for the screen
  • Belarusian: кінадрамату́рг (kinadramatúrh) — one who writes for the screen
  • Bulgarian: сценарист (scenarist) — one who writes for the screen
  • Catalan: guionista — one who writes for the screen
  • Chinese Mandarin: 編劇 /编剧 (biānjù) — one who writes for the screen
  • Czech: scénárista — one who writes for the screen
  • Czech: scenárista — one who writes for the screen
  • Danish: manuskriptforfatter — one who writes for the screen
  • Danish: manusforfatter — one who writes for the screen
  • Danish: filmforfatter — one who writes for the screen
  • Dutch: scenarioschrijver — one who writes for the screen
  • Dutch: scenarioschrijfster — one who writes for the screen
  • Dutch: scenarist — one who writes for the screen
  • Esperanto: scenaristo — one who writes for the screen
  • Estonian: stsenarist — one who writes for the screen
  • Finnish: käsikirjoittaja — one who writes for the screen
  • Finnish: elokuvakäsikirjoittaja — one who writes for the screen
  • French: scénariste — one who writes for the screen
  • German: Drehbuchautor — one who writes for the screen
  • German: Drehbuchautorin — one who writes for the screen
  • German: Drehbuchschreiber — one who writes for the screen
  • German: Drehbuchschreiberin — one who writes for the screen
  • German: Filmautor — one who writes for the screen
  • German: Filmautorin — one who writes for the screen
  • German: Filmszenarist — one who writes for the screen
  • German: Filmszenaristin — one who writes for the screen
  • German: Szenarist — one who writes for the screen
  • German: Szenaristin — one who writes for the screen
  • Greek: σεναριογράφος (senariográfos) — one who writes for the screen
  • Hungarian: forgatókönyvíró — one who writes for the screen
  • Italian: sceneggiatore — one who writes for the screen
  • Italian: sceneggiatrice — one who writes for the screen
  • Japanese: 脚本家 (kyakuhonka) — one who writes for the screen
  • Kazakh: сценарийші (ssenariişı) — one who writes for the screen
  • Korean: 각본가 (gakbon'ga) — one who writes for the screen
  • Kyrgyz: сценарийші — one who writes for the screen
  • Norwegian Bokmål: manusforfatter — one who writes for the screen
  • Norwegian Bokmål: filmforfatter — one who writes for the screen
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: manusforfattar — one who writes for the screen
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: filmforfattar — one who writes for the screen
  • Polish: scenarzysta — one who writes for the screen
  • Polish: scenarzystka — one who writes for the screen
  • Portuguese: roteirista — one who writes for the screen
  • Romanian: scenarist — one who writes for the screen
  • Romanian: scenaristă — one who writes for the screen
  • Russian: сценари́ст (scenaríst) — one who writes for the screen
  • Russian: сценари́стка (scenarístka) — one who writes for the screen
  • Russian: кинодрамату́рг (kinodramatúrg) — one who writes for the screen
  • Russian: киносценари́ст (kinoscenaríst) — one who writes for the screen
  • Russian: киносценари́стка (kinoscenarístka) — one who writes for the screen
  • Serbo-Croatian: scenarist — one who writes for the screen
  • Slovak: scenárista — one who writes for the screen
  • Spanish: guionista — one who writes for the screen
  • Swedish: manusförfattare — one who writes for the screen
  • Swedish: filmförfattare — one who writes for the screen
  • Tagalog: manunulatsay — one who writes for the screen
  • Turkish: ssenarist — one who writes for the screen
  • Ukrainian: кінадрамату́рг (kinadramatúrh) — one who writes for the screen
  • Uzbek: ssenarist — one who writes for the screen
  • Vietnamese: nhà biên kịch — one who writes for the screen
  • Vietnamese: biên kịch viên — one who writes for the screen
  • Vietnamese: người viết kịch bản — one who writes for the screen
Real reading context

screenwriter in complete knowledge articles