Copyediting

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. The activity of reviewing written works to enhance clarity, correctness, and style is referred to as editing text
2. The process of revising written material to improve grammar, punctuation, and overall readability
3. Reviewing and correcting written content to ensure consistency, clear expression, and proper formatting

Etymology: "Copyediting" is an alternative spelling of "copy editing," so the two forms share a single history. The compound is built from "copy," meaning text prepared for printing, and "editing," the work of preparing a text for publication. In the printing trade, "copy" was the manuscript or material handed to the typesetter, and the person who prepared it was the copy editor, a role that predates the modern term by a long margin. The meaning has since widened: today the word covers the careful pass over a manuscript that checks grammar, punctuation, consistency and clarity, rather than only the preparation of text for the press.

Synonyms: editing, proofreading