DictionaryAI

author

AW-thur/ˈɔ.θɚ/UKAW-thuh/ˈɔː.θə(ɹ)/

Pluralauthors

Verbauthors, authoring, authored

6 meanings of author

Practice

  1. 1
    writernouncountable
    A person who writes a book, article, report, or other work, or who writes books as a profession; also one of several creators of a shared work.

    The author of the report thanked her research team in the introduction.

    Each author contributed a single chapter to the collected volume.

    UsageThe work follows of: the author of the report. The other way round, use by: a novel by her.

    Note

    The word comes from Latin auctor through Middle English auctour, built on augeō, "to increase, originate", so the idea of an originator was in it from the start. Milton's "Author of all being" in Paradise Lost (1667) shows how far originator could stretch, toward the creator of anything.

  2. 2
    write (a work)verbtransitive
    To create a work as its author; to write or compose it.

    He went on to author several influential papers on climate policy.

    Researchers who author studies must disclose their sources of funding.

    UsageCan sound inflated where write would do; in careful prose write is the safer choice.

    Similarwrite, compose, pen, produce, draft

  3. 3
    nounfigurativelycountable
    The creator or cause of anything; the source from which something arises.

    He became, in many eyes, the author of the nation's misfortunes.

    Critics named her the author of a quiet revolution in design.

    UsageOften in the author of his own misfortune, downfall or troubles.

    Similararchitect, creator, originator, cause, instigator

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    source (of facts)nounarchaic
    The source one relies on as authority for a statement; an informant.
    Note

    Here the author is not the writer but the teller one leans on. The construction is usually possessive, as in my author or his author. In Robert Louis Stevenson's Weir of Hermiston (1896), the narrator follows "my author, Kirstie" through a tale she told aloud. The sense is archaic. Today source or authority does the same work, and using author this way will read as deliberately old-fashioned.

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Author has an archaic sense meaning an informant or authority. en.wiktionary.org
    • Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Weir of Hermiston. en.wikisource.org
    • Weir of Hermiston was first published in 1896. en.wikisource.org
    • The narrator calls Kirstie “my author” while recounting a story she told aloud; the quoted wording is exact. gutenberg.org
  2. 5
    nounobsolete
    The principal in a crime; the main person who carries it out.
    Accomplices of a crime or an offence shall incur the same punishment as the authors of such a crime or offence, except when the law will have disposed otherwise.
    1894, Franco-Siamese Mixed Court, The Case of Kieng Chek (Kham Muon) before the Franco-Siamese Mixed Court
    Note

    Criminal law once used author for the principal, the person who actually commits the offense, as distinct from accomplices. The Franco-Siamese Mixed Court of 1894 still sets the two side by side: accomplices "shall incur the same punishment as the authors". The usage is obsolete. Modern English says principal, and "the author of a crime" now reads as figurative, close to the cause of anything.

    Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Author historically meant the principal or primary participant in a crime. en.wiktionary.org
    • The 1894 Franco-Siamese Mixed Court record distinguishes accomplices from authors and contains the quoted wording. archive.org
  3. 6
    nounUS
    The initial owner of the copyright in a work, especially one made for hire or created by a company.

Use it in a sentence

Write your own sentence with author, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.

Origin

This word came into Middle English as auctour through Anglo-Norman and Old French, from Latin auctor, which is based on augeō ("to increase, originate"). The h, seen in Middle French autheur too, is not original to the Latin spelling; the OED credits it to influence from the word authentic. It is a doublet of auteur.

Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts