Definition

1. Noun:

   • A short extract or passage taken from a longer text, speech, or piece of music: An "excerpt" is a selected portion copied or quoted from a larger work, often used to illustrate a point or provide a sample.

2. Verb:

   • To take a short extract or passage from a longer text, speech, or piece of music: To "excerpt" means to select and copy out a part of a larger work for use elsewhere.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • The article included an excerpt from the author's latest novel.
  • Listen to this musical excerpt from the symphony's third movement.

• Verb:

  • The reviewer excerpted several key paragraphs from the report.
  • She excerpted the most poignant lines from the poem for her presentation.

Advanced Usage

• "to excerpt from": to take a passage specifically from a particular source.

  • The documentary excerpts heavily from historical newsreels.

• As a gerund ("excerpting"): the act of selecting and copying passages.

  • Excerpting relevant data is a crucial part of the research process.

Variants and Related Words

• Excerpta (n, plural, rare): excerpts, especially in a scholarly context.
• Excerption (n): the act of excerpting or an excerpt itself (less common).

Synonyms

• Noun: Extract, passage, selection, quotation, clip, fragment.
• Verb: Extract, quote, cite, select, cull.

Related Phrases

• In excerpt: presented as or in the form of an excerpt.
  • The chapter was published in excerpt by the magazine.

Idioms

• No common idioms are specifically formed with the word "excerpt."

Noun

1. a passage selected from a larger work
   • he presented excerpts from William James' philosophical writings

Verb

1. take out of a literary work in order to cite or copy