annotate

verb

an·​no·​tate ˈa-nə-ˌtāt 

annotated; annotating

intransitive verb

: to make or furnish critical or explanatory notes or comment

transitive verb

: to make or furnish annotations (see annotation sense 1) for (something, such as a literary work or subject)

annotated his translation of Dante's Divine Comedy

annotative

ˈa-nə-ˌtā-tiv 

adjective

annotator

ˈa-nə-ˌtā-tər 

noun

Examples of annotate in a Sentence

He annotated the text at several places.

Recent Examples on the Web

Each recorded call then had to be annotated with a horribly long list of contextual parameters. —ArsTechnica, 3 Apr. 2025

Here is his 50-balls-in-play rolling exit velocity chart for last year, with the removal from that late-June game annotated. —Eno Sarris, The Athletic, 25 Mar. 2025

This is Clement’s brief, filed Friday and annotated by The New York Times. —Michael Rothfeld, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2025

In a case study by MIT Technology Review, a major financial services company achieved a 20% productivity boost in customer support by first standardizing and annotating its datasets before deploying a GenAI tool. —Betsy Reed, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Latin annotatus, past participle of annotare, from ad- + notare to mark — more at note

First Known Use

1693, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for annotate

• abdicate
• abrogate
• acetate
• activate
• actuate
• adsorbate
• aggravate
• agitate
• alginate
• alienate
• allocate
• amputate

Kids Definition

annotate

verb

an·​no·​tate ˈan-ə-ˌtāt 

annotated; annotating

: to make or add explanatory notes

annotator

-ˌtāt-ər 

noun

Legal Definition

annotate

verb

an·​no·​tate ˈa-nə-ˌtāt 

annotated; annotating

intransitive verb

: to make or write an annotation

transitive verb

: to make or write annotations for

annotator

-ˌtā-tər 

noun