Manuscript Meaning
/ˈmæn.jəˌskɹɪpt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjHandwritten, or by extension manually typewritten, as opposed to being mechanically reproduced.
nounA book, composition or any other document, written by hand (or manually typewritten), not mechanically reproduced.
Sentence Examples
You should come early in order for him to read your manuscript before your speech.
Can you manage to complete the manuscript by Friday?
CEFR Practice Quiz
The historian found an ancient ____ in the library vault last week.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The author spent many years working on the ____ for her new book, which was finally published last week.
Word Origin & History
1597, from Medieval Latin manūscrīptus, a calque of Germanic origin, equivalent to Latin manū (ablative of manus (“hand”)) + Latin scrīptus (past participle of scribere (“to write”)). Not found in Classical Latin.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone,[…]. Scribes, illuminators, and scholars held such stones directly over manuscript pages as an aid in seeing what was being written, drawn, or read."
— 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist, archived from the original on 19 Apr 2026:
"The [Isaac] Newton that emerges from the [unpublished] manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason. The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemy."
— 2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892, archived from the original on 09 Jan 2025:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The historian found an ancient ____ in the library vault last week.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The author spent many years working on the ____ for her new book, which was finally published last week.