prewrite

P3R1E1W4R1I1T1E1

verb

To make a first draft of ideas and format for an essay, thesis, article, or book as a plan for the actual writing.

“Some students, due to anxiety, skip the most important first step, which is to prewrite the thesis, and jump into the middle of the project, which is a fatal error.”

OriginEnglish write ← Middle English pre- ← Latin prae- →
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Meanings

verbprewrite (third-person singular simple present prewrites, present participle prewriting, simple past prewrote, past participle prewritten)

present singular third person prewrites · participle present prewriting · past prewrote · participle past prewritten

  1. transitiveTo make a first draft of ideas and format for an essay, thesis, article, or book as a plan for the actual writing.

    Some students, due to anxiety, skip the most important first step, which is to prewrite the thesis, and jump into the middle of the project, which is a fatal error.

nounprewrite (plural prewrites)

plural prewrites

  1. A first draft of a script, etc.

    The result has been that many professional screenwriters have felt obliged to undertake free drafts and prewrites […]

    2017, Daniel Bernardi, Julian Hoxter, Off the Page: Screenwriting in the Era of Media Convergence, page 82
  2. computingA write operation that is buffered instead of being applied directly to the database.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*préh₂i?
  4. Proto-Italic*prai
  5. Proto-Italic*prai-
  6. Latinprae-
  7. Middle Englishpre-
  8. Englishpre-
  9. Englishwrite
  10. Englishprewrite

From pre- + write.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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