Revising

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of evaluating and modifying previously created material to enhance its quality and effectiveness
2. The activity of reviewing written content to make necessary corrections and improvements for clarity and precision
3. The act of reviewing, altering, and improving previously written material to achieve better clarity, accuracy, and effectiveness

Etymology: "Revising" is the present participle of "revise," so its story is really the story of the verb. The verb came into English by way of Middle French "réviser," which took it from Latin "revīsō," meaning "to look at again" or "to examine." Latin built it from "re-," meaning "again," and "vīsō," a frequentative form of "videō," "to see." A frequentative verb expresses repeated or intensive action, so the root sense is closer to "keep looking" than to a single glance. That original sense of seeing again explains the modern meaning. To revise a text is to look over it once more and rework it, so a word about repeated looking became a word about repeated correcting. The same Latin root also gave English "visit" and "vision," so "revise" shares its core with words about seeing, though its prefix and frequentative form push it toward careful re-examination.

Synonyms: editing, amending, altering

Antonyms: ignoring, neglecting