verbatim

1 of 2

adverb

ver·​ba·​tim (ˌ)vər-ˈbā-təm 

: in the exact words : word for word

quoted the speech verbatim

verbatim

2 of 2

adjective

: being in or following the exact words : word-for-word

a verbatim report of the meeting

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Get Wordy With Verbatim

Latin has a phrase for "exactly as written": verbatim ac litteratim, which literally means "word for word and letter for letter." Like the verbatim in that Latin phrase, the English verbatim means "word for word." As you may have noticed, there's a verb in verbatim—and that's no mere coincidence. Both verb and verbatim are derived from the Latin word for "word," which is verbum. Other common English words that share this root include adverb, proverb, and verbose. Even the word word itself is related. Verbatim can also be an adjective meaning "being in or following the exact words" (as in "a verbatim report") and a rarer noun referring to an account, translation, or report that follows the original word for word.

Synonyms

Adverb

• ad verbum
• directly
• exactly
• word for word

Examples of verbatim in a Sentence

Adverb

The New York Times reported that recent posts lambasting legislation against Wal-Mart came verbatim from the retailer's p.r. firm. —Sally B. Donnelly et al., Time, 20 Mar. 2006

Some passages in the book are taken verbatim from the blog … —Publishers Weekly, 13 June 2005

Around his eleventh year he compiled a sort of commonplace book in which he transcribed passages from his reading.  … But these entries aren't rendered verbatim: [Arthur] Rimbaud expands and contracts his sources, plays with lines, exhibiting a very early, very organic sort of literary criticism. —Wyatt Mason, Harper's, October 2002

"My own anxieties about mortality are tempered just slightly," says [Ken] Burns (quoting, almost verbatim, his introduction to "Jazz's" companion coffee-table book), "by the notion that if we continue to try hard, we'll have a chance to hear Louis blow Gabriel out of the clouds." —David Gates, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2001

you can't just copy the encyclopedia article verbatim for your report—that's plagiarism

Adjective

Was Coleridge's "Table Talk," as recorded by his circle, his words or theirs—or a conflation of both? And what about Boswell, the most celebrated auditor of them all, who composed a masterpiece of English literature out of the supposedly verbatim speech of Samuel Johnson? Did Johnson begin his every declaration with an orotund "Sir?" —James Atlas, New York Times Magazine, 23 June 1991

Some readers may unfortunately be made mistrustful of the authors' findings by their attempts to enliven the book with unverifiable—if inconsequential—details about the settings of events and by occasionally presenting unrecorded conversations of four decades ago in the form of verbatim quotations. —Henry Ashby Turner, New York Times Book Review, 22 June 1986

Recent Examples on the Web

Adverb

The most overt reference to US politics came near the end of the show, when host Jimmy Kimmel read – verbatim – a post from former President Donald Trump, who skewered Kimmel on his platform Truth Social. —Dan Heching, CNN, 11 Mar. 2024

The coronation outfits were replicated verbatim by Jacques-Louis David’s painting. —Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 22 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Adverb

borrowed from Medieval Latin verbātim, from Latin verbum "word, verb entry 1" + -ātim (as in nōminātim "by name, expressly," formed from -ātus, past participle suffix and -im, adverbial suffix)

Adjective

adjective derivative of verbatim entry 1

First Known Use

Adverb

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

1613, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

verbatim

adverb or adjective

ver·​ba·​tim

(ˌ)vər-ˈbāt-əm

: in the same words : word for word

wrote down the speech verbatim