codicil

C3O1D2I1C3I1L1
/ˈkɒdɪsɪl//ˈkəʊdɪsɪl/

noun

An addition or supplement that explains, modifies, or revokes a will or part of one.

UncommonScrabble 12

Meanings

nouncodicil (plural codicils)

plural codicils

  1. lawAn addition or supplement that explains, modifies, or revokes a will or part of one.
  2. An addition or supplement modifying any official document, such as a treaty.

    So insistent was this demand that the Wyandot actually received a codicil to the treaty […]

    2004, Barbara Alice Mann, “The Greenville Treaty of 1795: Pen-and-Ink Witchcraft in the Struggle for the Old Northwest”, in Bruce E. Johansen, editor, Enduring Legacies: Native American Treaties and Contemporary Controversies, Praeger, page 155
    1 more example

    Those loose ends were tied up in a little-understood clarification of Brexit called the Northern Ireland protocol, ratified in January 2020. It looked like a mere codicil three years ago; now it looks like a serious diplomatic blunder that could threaten Britain’s territory and the region’s peace.

    2023 January 26, Christopher Caldwell, “It’s Anyone’s Guess What Will Happen in Northern Ireland in the Next 12 Weeks”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
  3. broadlyAny appendix or addition.

    If Nick answered a question Wani listened to him and then gave a flat little codicil or correction.

    2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 378
verbcodicil (third-person singular simple present codicils, present participle (US) codiciling or (UK) codicilling, simple past and past participle (US) codiciled or (UK) codicilled)

present singular third person codicils · US participle present codiciling · UK participle present codicilling · US participle past codiciled · US past codiciled · UK participle past codicilled · UK past codicilled

  1. ergativeTo add a codicil (to).

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Latincōdicillus
  2. Middle Frenchcodicille
  3. Englishcodicil

Borrowed from Middle French codicille, from Latin cōdicillus, diminutive of cōdex. See code.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan codicil
  • codiciladdition made to a will
Dutch codicil, bijvoegsel
  • codiciladdition made to a will
  • bijvoegseladdition made to a will
  • aanhangseladdition made to a will
Esperanto kodicilo
  • kodiciloaddition made to a will
French codicille
  • codicilleaddition made to a will
Italian codicillo
  • codicilloaddition made to a will
Latin cōdicillus
  • cōdicillusaddition made to a will
Polish kodycyl
  • kodycyladdition made to a will
Portuguese codicilo
  • codiciloaddition made to a will
Russian кодици́л, кодици́лл
  • кодици́л (kodicíl)addition made to a will
  • кодици́лл (kodicíll)addition made to a will
Spanish codicilo
  • codiciloaddition made to a will
Cite this entry
APA

codicil. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/codicil

MLA

“codicil.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/codicil. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “codicil,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/codicil.

Source: codicil on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.