authoring

Pluralauthorings (some meanings)

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The process of creating the content of a document or other item: that is, the writing or composition itself.

   Like cooking a meal: the doing of it, not the finished plate on the table.

   Most of the authoring happened late at night, after the children were asleep.

   The team divided the authoring across four contributors, each covering one chapter.

   Similarwriting, composition, drafting

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of author.

   The committee is authoring fresh guidelines for the department.

   Several researchers are authoring chapters for the upcoming volume.

   Note

   The -ing form of a verb that some readers still resist: using author as a verb, as in authoring a report, is sometimes proscribed in US usage, and write or compose avoids the objection. The same spelling also works as a gerund, which shades into the noun for the writing process. Only the finished composition is countable, with the plural authorings.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A finished written work; the composition or text produced by the act of writing.

   The painting hanging on the wall, rather than the act of painting it.

   The museum displayed an early authoring of the celebrated poet beside her later manuscripts.

   Critics compared the two authorings side by side, noting how the writer's voice had matured.

   Similarwork, composition, writing, text

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