redact
verb/ɹɪˈdækt/
Etymology From Old French redacter, from Latin redactus, perfect passive participle of redigō (“drive, lead, collect, reduce”), from re- (“back”) + agō (“put in motion, drive”). Piecewise doublet of react.
10 senses
- 1To censor, to black out or remove parts of a document…
- 2To black out legally protected sections of text in a…
- 3To reduce to form, as literary matter; to digest and put…
- 4To draw up or frame a decree, statement, etc.
- 5To bring together in one unit; to combine or bring…
- 6To gather or organize works or ideas into a unified…
- 7To insert or assimilate into a written system or scheme.
- 8To bring an area of study within the comprehension…
- 9To reduce to a particular condition or state, especially…
- 10To reduce something physical to a certain form…
Usually To censor, to black out or remove parts of a document while leaving the remainder.
- The military will redact the document before releasing it, blacking out sections that are classified.
- The names and email addresses of the users were redacted from the public data.
2 more examples
- By the time the Department of Defense is done redacting, there won't be much left to read.
- Like other tax-exempt nonprofits, AIEF must file a Form 990 every year with the IRS, but donors are redacted from the version that is made accessible to the public.2023 November 18, Murtaza Hussein, “Meet the Secret Donors Who Fund AIPAC’s Israel Trips for Congress”, in The Intercept:
Law To black out legally protected sections of text in a document provided to opposing counsel, typically as part of the discovery process.
To reduce to form, as literary matter; to digest and put in shape (matter for publication); to edit.
- […] the account of his second expedition was carefully redacted, […]1829, Robinson Hurst, “Memoires de Vidocq, Chéf de la Police de Sureté jusq' en 1827; aujourd' hui Proprietaire et Fabriquant de Papier à St Mandé.”, in The Monthly Review, volume 12, London: G. Henderson, page 278:
Rare To draw up or frame a decree, statement, etc.
- The Oath is redacted ; pronounced aloud by President Bailly, — and indeed in such a sonorous tone, that the cloud of witnesses, even outdoors, hear it, and bellow response to it.1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Mercury de Breze”, in Henry Duff Traill, editor, The French Revolution, a History, the Bastille, volume 2, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, The Third Estate, page 162:
Obsolete To bring together in one unit; to combine or bring together into one.
- Octauianus Augustus, his successor and nevewe, redacte in to oon monarchy the realmes of alle the worlde.c1475, Churchill Babington, editor, Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, Monachi Cestrensis; together with the English translations of John Trevisa and of an unknown writer of the fifteenth century., volume 2, London: Longmans, Green, and Company, translation of original by Ranulf Higden, published 1869, page 273:
Obsolete To gather or organize works or ideas into a unified whole; to collect, order, or write in a written document or to put into a particular written form.
- yere, laborede and founde the arte of logike; þe rewles of whom and causes of þe begynnenge Plato fyndenge encreasede hit moche; but Aristotille redacte hit in an arte.c1475, Joseph Rawson Lumby, editor, Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, Monachi Cestrensis; together with the English translations of John Trevisa and of an unknown writer of the fifteenth century., volume 3, London: Longman & Company, translation of original by Ranulf Higden, published 1871, page 251:
Obsolete To reduce to a particular condition or state, especially one that is undesirable.
- […] the grite penuritie and indigence quhairunto the puir handy-labouraris, and utheris his hienes subiectis of all esteatis ar redactit be that occasioun, […]1595, Robert Pitcairn, Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland: Comp. from the Original Records and Mss., with Historical Illustrations, volume 1, Edinburgh: William Tait, published 1833, section II, page 352:
Obsolete To reduce something physical to a certain form, especially by destruction.
- […] the principall mans or manerie of thame lordis Erilis of Orchadie hes beine syndrie tymis brint and redactit till nocht […]1554, Dean Thomas Guild, Monk of Newbattle, “Diploma of Thomas, Bishop of Orkney and Zetland, and the Chapter of Kirkwall, Addressed to Eric King of Norway, Respecting the Genealogy of William Saint Clair, Earl of Orkney.”, in The Bannatyne Miscellany; Containing Original Papers and Tracts, Chiefly Relating to the History and Literature of Scotland, volume 3, Edinburgh: Ballantyne and Company, published 1855, page 72:
- Derived terms
- over-redact, redactable, redaction, redactive, redactor, unredact