word for word

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noun

in exactly the same words; verbatim.

one word at a time, without regard for the sense of the whole: She translated the book word for word.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English

Related forms

word-for-word, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

word for word

Exactly as written or spoken, as in That was the forecast, word for word. Chaucer used this idiom in the late 1300s.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Relevant Questions

00:10

Word for word is always a great word to know.

So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

Example sentences

All translations need to be original, word for word translations.

Yet observe, line for line and almost word for word, how strangely they differ from prose.

In between was two pages taken word for word from a book of bios.

Memorize it, although perhaps not word for word, and time yourself.

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