text Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the words of something written
    textual matter.
    • there were more than a thousand words of text
    • they handed out the printed text of the mayor's speech
    • he wants to reconstruct the original text
  2. noun a passage from the Bible that is used as the subject of a sermon
    • the preacher chose a text from Psalms to introduce his sermon
  3. noun a book prepared for use in schools or colleges
    text edition; school text; textbook; schoolbook.
    • his economics textbook is in its tenth edition
    • the professor wrote the text that he assigned students to buy
  4. noun the main body of a written work (as distinct from illustrations or footnotes etc.)
    • pictures made the text easier to understand

WordNet


Text noun
Etymology
F. texte, L. textus, texture, structure, context, fr. texere, textum, to weave, construct, compose; cf. Gr. carpenter, Skr. taksh to cut, carve, make. Cf. Context, Mantle, n., Pretext, Tissue, Toil a snare.
Definitions
  1. A discourse or composition on which a note or commentary is written; the original words of an author, in distinction from a paraphrase, annotation, or commentary. Chaucer.
  2. (O. Eng. Law) The four Gospels, by way of distinction or eminence. R.
  3. A verse or passage of Scripture, especially one chosen as the subject of a sermon, or in proof of a doctrine.
    How oft, when Paul has served us with a text, Has Epictetus, Plato, Tully, preached! Cowper.
  4. Hence, anything chosen as the subject of an argument, literary composition, or the like; topic; theme.
  5. A style of writing in large characters; text-hand also, a kind of type used in printing; as, German text.
  6. That part of a document (printed or electronic) comprising the words, especially the main body of expository words, in contrast to the illustrations, pictures, charts, tables, or other formatted material which contain graphic elements as a major component.
  7. Any communication composed of words.
  8. A textbook.
Text transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To write in large characters, as in text hand. Obs. Beau. & Fl.

Webster 1913