copyedit

See also: copy edit

English

Alternative forms

• copy edit, copy-edit

Etymology

Back-formation from copy editor.^[1]

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

copyedit (third-person singular simple present copyedits, present participle copyediting, simple past and past participle copyedited)

2. (transitive, printing) To correct the spelling, grammar, formatting, etc. of printed material and prepare it for typesetting, printing, or online publishing.

   Synonym: subedit

   • 1990 April 28, Duncan Mitchell, “A Dazzling Parade Of Celebrity Names”, in Gay Community News, page 11:

     Memoirs of a Bastard Angel contains so many amazing howlers that it seems barely to have been copyedited or proofread.

Usage notes

• Of the alternative forms, copyedit is most common, followed by copy edit and copy-edit.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]}

  In the American corpus, copyedit is an undisputed leader.^[7] In the British corpus, it is a tie between copyedit and copy-edit.^[7]

  Verb copyedit is in Merriam-Webster,^[8] AHD^[9] and Collins.^[10]

  Verb copy edit is in Merriam-Webster,^[8] AHD^[9] and Cambridge.^[11]

  Verb copy-edit is in AHD,^[9] Cambridge,^[11] Collins,^[10] Oxford Learner's,^[12] OED^[13] and Longman.^[14]

• The verb forms are indicated as mainly U.S. in Cambridge^[11] and Collins.^[10]
• Use of copy editor and copyeditor predates use of copy edit and copyedit.^[15]

Derived terms

• uncopyedited

 

Related terms

• copyediting
• copyeditor

Translations

prepare material for publishing

Chinese: Mandarin: 審稿／审稿 (shěngǎo), 校對／校对 (zh) (jiàoduì) Finnish: toimittaa (fi), kielentarkistaa, tarkistaa (fi) French: corriger (fr) German: redigieren (de), gegenlesen (de) Hungarian: olvasószerkesztést végez, olvasószerkesztőként nyomtatásra/kiadásra előkészít Manx: fo-eagree Norwegian: gjøre korrektur, redigere (no) Polish: adiustować (pl) impf, zaadiustować pf, zadiustować pf Welsh: golygu copi m

See also

• line edit
• proofread

Noun

copyedit (plural copyedits)

1. The process or act of copyediting a document.
   • 1996, Dorothy L. Cady, Bulletproof Documentation: Creating Quality Through Testing, page 89:

     A copyedit is the final type of edit performed on documents.

   • 2016, Leslie Vermeer, The Complete Canadian Book Editor, page 35:

     The copyedit may be strictly mechanical or may include stylistic changes.

2. The result of copyediting a document.
   • 2006, Brian Fagan, Writing Archaeology: Telling Stories About the Past, page 129:

     Your production editor will probably not contact you until the due date of the copyedit is established in-house.

3. A single change to the text of a document that is an instance of copyediting.
   • 1991, TEX Users Group, TUGboat, volume 12, page 365:

     For example, if the author is responsible for inserting the copyedits into the source files, then there are repercussions later on when changes are made during the page formatting stage.

   • 2012, Constance Steinkuehler, Kurt Squire, Sasha Barab, Games, Learning, and Society: Learning and Meaning in the Digital Age, page 418:

     The copyedits in science.net — a game designed for middle school students — were somewhat less blunt, but they were supposed to retain the other salient features of the original.

Usage notes

• In noun usage, the form copyedit is most common, followed by copy edit and then the much less common copy-edit.^[16]

References

1. “copyedit”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
2. copyedit, copy edit, copy-edit at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
3. copyedited, copy edited, copy-edited at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
4. copyedits, copy-edits, copy edits at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
5. copyediting, copy editing, copy-editing at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
6. copyedited by,copy edited by,copy-edited by at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
7. to copyedit, to copy edit, to copy-edit at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
8. “copyedit”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
9. “copyedit”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
10. “copyedit”, in Collins English Dictionary.
11. “copy edit”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
12. “copy-edit”, in Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
13. “copy-edit” under “copy”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
14. “copy-edit” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
15. copyeditor,copy editor, copyedit, copy edit at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
16. a copy edit,a copyedit,a copy-edit at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.

Further reading

• “copyedit”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “copyedit”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Copy editing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia