put pen to paper
idiom
: to begin writing
She had always dreamed of writing a novel, but she never actually put pen to paper.
Examples of put pen to paper in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
What happens when the impulse to put pen to paper becomes extreme?
Credit...Najeebah Al-Ghadban
By Molly Young
Dec. 30, 2024
How does pregnancy alter the reading and writing mind?
—
Molly Young, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2024
The Nazis put pen to paper and planned out the segregation, deportation, and extermination of Europe’s entire Jewish population in factory-like death camps.
—Lana Melman, Sun Sentinel, 8 Nov. 2024
And yet…the rhyme schemes, the reduplication, the semantic shifts, the conversions, the deliberate grammatical oddities, and rich double entendres–Carpenter is, for some people, the greatest poet to have ever put pen to paper.
—Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 8 Oct. 2024
Shifting all drone warfare from the CIA to the Pentagon would also be perfectly legal; the president could put pen to paper and authorize it tomorrow.
—Jane Harman, Foreign Affairs, 1 Mar. 2015
See all Example Sentences for put pen to paper 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Molly Young, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2024
The Nazis put pen to paper and planned out the segregation, deportation, and extermination of Europe’s entire Jewish population in factory-like death camps.
—Lana Melman, Sun Sentinel, 8 Nov. 2024
And yet…the rhyme schemes, the reduplication, the semantic shifts, the conversions, the deliberate grammatical oddities, and rich double entendres–Carpenter is, for some people, the greatest poet to have ever put pen to paper.
—Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 8 Oct. 2024
Shifting all drone warfare from the CIA to the Pentagon would also be perfectly legal; the president could put pen to paper and authorize it tomorrow.
—Jane Harman, Foreign Affairs, 1 Mar. 2015
See all Example Sentences for put pen to paper
Dictionary Entries Near put pen to paper
Cite this Entry
“Put pen to paper.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/put%20pen%20to%20paper. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share