Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A written or printed paper that bears the original, official, or legal form of something and can be used to furnish decisive evidence or information.
  • noun Something, such as a recording or a photograph, that can be used to furnish evidence or information.
  • noun A writing that contains information.
  • noun Computers A piece of work created with an application, as with a word processor.
  • noun Computers A computer file that is not an executable file and contains data for use by applications.
  • noun Something, especially a material substance such as a coin bearing a revealing symbol or mark, that serves as proof or evidence.
  • transitive verb To furnish with a document or documents.
  • transitive verb To support (an assertion or claim, for example) with evidence or decisive information.
  • transitive verb To support (statements in a book, for example) with written references or citations; annotate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To teach with authority; instruct; school.
  • To support by recorded evidence; bring evidence of; prove.
  • To furnish with documents; furnish with instructions and proofs, or with papers necessary to establish facts: as, a ship should be documented according to the directions of law.
  • noun That which is taught; precept; teaching; instruction; direction; authoritative dogma.
  • noun Strictly, a written or printed paper containing an authoritative record or statement of any kind; more generally, any writing or publication that may be used as a source of evidence or information upon a particular subject or class of subjects; specifically, in the law of evidence, anything bearing a legible or significant inscription or legend; anything that may be read as communicating an idea (including thus a tombstone, a seal, a coin, a sign-board, etc., as well as paper writings).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To teach; to school.
  • transitive verb To furnish with documents or papers necessary to establish facts or give information.
  • noun obsolete That which is taught or authoritatively set forth; precept; instruction; dogma.
  • noun obsolete An example for instruction or warning.
  • noun An original or official paper relied upon as the basis, proof, or support of anything else; -- in its most extended sense, including any writing, book, or other instrument conveying information in the case; any material substance on which the thoughts of men are represented by any species of conventional mark or symbol.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An original or official paper relied upon as the basis, proof, or support of anything else, including any writing, book, or other instrument conveying information pertinent to such proof or support. Any material substance on which the thoughts of men are represented by any species of conventional mark or symbol.
  • noun obsolete That which is taught or authoritatively set forth; precept; instruction; dogma.
  • noun obsolete An example for instruction or warning.
  • verb To record in documents.
  • verb To furnish with documents or papers necessary to establish facts or give information.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a written account of ownership or obligation
  • verb support or supply with references
  • noun writing that provides information (especially information of an official nature)
  • noun anything serving as a representation of a person's thinking by means of symbolic marks
  • verb record in detail
  • noun (computer science) a computer file that contains text (and possibly formatting instructions) using seven-bit ASCII characters

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, precept, from Old French, from Latin documentum, example, proof, from docēre, to teach; see dek- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French document.

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Examples

  • - a normative document is a: «document that provides rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results» and therefore does not have the same scope, nor the same endorsement, but can become a «standard».

    Chapter 4 1998

  • It is also possible to navigate the message tree using a method on MbsElement (Listing getChild ( "XMLNSC"); $document = $xml - > getChild ( "document"); $chapter = $document - > getChild ( "chapter", 1); $title = $chapter - > getAttribute ( "title");

    LXer Linux News 2009

  • I bumped the keyboard as I was gathering them up, and a Word document popped up on the screen.

    The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf Molly Harper 2011

  • Any changes made from this point forward are made solely inside the page layout software, NOT in the Word document as well.

    "E" Stands for "Errors" 2011

  • PHILADELPHIA—Sometime Saturday morning, Chris Young will sit down in front of a computer, open a word document and begin one of the most meticulous habits of any pitcher in baseball.

    Inside Chris Young's Book of Hitters Brian Costa 2011

  • No longer do job candidates simply present a Word document of their qualifications.

    Updating a Résumé for 2011 Elizabeth Garone 2011

  • George Stephanopoulos , Ms. Wentworth's husband and a co-anchor of "Good Morning America," said he was surprised his wife was able to write the book: "Every morning I'd come home at 9 a.m. from work, and Ali would be on the couch with a big mug of tea, 'Will and Grace' on the big screen, her browser between One Kings Lane and Wireimage and the Word document screen completely blank."

    In Charge; In Wonderland Marshall Heyman 2012

  • If a recipient opened the Word document and infected the PC, the attacker could take control of the machine and reach into an organization's network to propagate itself and hunt for data, Symantec researcher Kevin Haley told Reuters.

    Duqu Virus Exploits Microsoft Windows Software Flaw 2011

  • I bumped the keyboard as I was gathering them up, and a Word document popped up on the screen.

    The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf Molly Harper 2011

  • I said, opening a Word document and typing: Mike stumbled into his tiny, mildew-ridden bathroom, clutching at the elastic of his worn boxers.

    And One Last Thing… Molly Harper 2010

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