1. A section or passage taken from a longer work; such as, a book, a movie, a musical composition, or a document; an extract: Last Sunday, the minister read excerpts from the book of Genesis, in the Bible, to his congregation during his religious sermon.

Mrs. Song played an excerpt from a concerto on her violin to demonstrate that it is an important musical instrument of an orchestra.

2. Etymology: from Latin ex-, "out" + carpere, "to pluck, to pick"; so the Roman word for an extract or a passage from a book or writing was excerptum, "excerpt". © ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

1. The action of making selections from a book, manuscript, etc.
2. To take a part from a longer work or to select a section or passage from a longer work; to abridge by choosing representative sections.