Verbatims

Part of speech: adverb, noun

Definitions

1. A repetition of words or phrases exactly as originally stated
2. a record capturing dialogue or text word-for-word
3. the practice of quoting someone’s speech or writing without alterations

Etymology: "Verbatims" is simply the plural of "verbatim", a noun for a word-for-word quotation, and the plural form is the one that matters here. The adverb "verbatim" entered English in the late 1400s, attested from 1481, and it comes from Medieval Latin "verbātim", meaning "word for word". That Latin word is built from "verbum", "word", plus the adverbial suffix "-ātim", which turns a noun into a manner adverb. The Latin ancestor is a plain adverb, so the English noun is a later development: the adverb was turned into a noun meaning a transcript or record that reproduces the original exactly. Because of this, "verbatims" is a word of pure reporting and transcription, used for things like recorded statements or verbatim accounts of speeches.

Synonyms: word-for-word, exact copies

Antonyms: paraphrases, summaries