revise

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French reviser and directly borrowed from Latin revīsō (“to visit again, look at again”).^[2][3][4][5] The French verb is recorded from the 13th century,^[6] first meaning to examine or consider (about 1245), later also (1565) to alter an opinion after reconsideration;^[2] the Anglo-Norman revisier meant to review or look over again.^[7] The Latin verb is formed from re- (“again”) and vīsō (“to look at, examine”),^[2][8][4][9] the intensive of videō (“to see”),^[8][4] from Proto-Indo-European *weid- (“to see”);^[6] Barnhart, Etymonline and Klein call it a frequentative of revideō (“to see again”).^[10][6][11] The OED notes that it overlaps in meaning with review, and that its senses of editing a text and of going over study material appear in French only much later, in 1752 and 1946.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To read carefully over a text so as to correct or improve it: 1545, in Thomas Raynald's translation of Roesslin, The Byrth of Mankynde.^[2][12] Etymonline dates the verb to the 1560s, in the now obsolete sense "to look at again",^[6] and Barnhart to 1567, for looking again or back.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The literal Latin sense, to see or look at again, was used in English from 1563 to 1766, and to look back or reflect on something from 1567 to 1640.^[2][12] The editorial sense is the OED's earliest (1545), but Etymonline dates it to the 1590s and Barnhart to the King James Bible of 1611.^[2][6][10] From the early 17th century, in Bacon, laws and plans were revised;^[2] from 1722 opinions and judgements;^[2] from 1877 figures, revised upward or downward.^[2] The educational sense, going over material already learnt before an examination, is recorded from 1866, in an Ontario report,^[2] and is now mainly British.^[9] The noun revise is recorded from 1586, first for being seen again;^[2] in printing a revise has been a proof incorporating earlier corrections since 1612,^[2] and Johnson (1755) defined it so.^[13] Weekley notes the Revised Version of the Bible, made in 1870–84.^[14]

Timeline

• 1545 – to read over a text in order to correct or improve it.^[2][12]
• 1563 – to see or look at again (obsolete by 1766).^[2]
• 1567 – to look again or back, reflect (obsolete by 1640).^[2][10]
• 1586 – noun, the fact of being seen again.^[2]
• 1612 – noun, in printing, a corrected proof.^[2]
• before 1626 – to revise a law or plan, in Bacon.^[2]
• 1722 – to alter an opinion after reconsideration.^[2]
• 1866 – to go over studied material before an examination.^[2]
• 1877 – to adjust a figure upward or downward.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To read over a text carefully in order to correct or improve it: She revised the essay twice before handing it in.^[12][9][2]
2. To make a new, amended or updated version of a work: to revise an atlas.^[12][9]
3. To change an opinion, plan or law after reconsidering it.^[9][2]
4. To adjust a figure or estimate, upward or downward.^[2]
5. Chiefly British, to go over material already studied in preparation for an examination.^[9][2]
6. (obsolete, 1567–1640) To look again or back; to reflect.^[12][2]

Noun

1. An act of revising; a revision.^[12][9][2]
2. In printing, a proof that incorporates the corrections marked on an earlier proof.^[12][2][13]
3. A revised form or version.^[12][2]

Word family

• revisable
• revisability
• reviser
• unrevised

Related words

• revision
• review
• visit
• vision
• video

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray