Revise

How to spell revise

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce revise

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does revise mean?

1. verbTo examine and alter something, especially a piece of writing, in order to correct or improve it.
2. verbTo go back over material that has already been learned, especially in preparation for an examination.

Revise in a sentence

• The editor asked her to revise the opening chapter before publication.

• She planned to revise for her chemistry exam all weekend.

• The committee will revise the policy after hearing the feedback.

• The students were told to revise the whole syllabus before the test.

Where does revise come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word travelled into English from the Latin verb revisere, meaning 'to look at again' or 'to visit once more', which was built from the prefix re- ('again') and visere, a strengthened form of videre, 'to see'. So at its heart the word literally describes the act of taking a second look. English borrowed it in the late 1500s, most likely by way of the French reviser, and the earliest uses meant simply to re-examine or inspect something carefully. From that 'look again' idea grew the modern senses of correcting and improving a piece of writing, and, in British usage, going back over study material before an examination. The same videre root sits inside familiar relatives such as 'vision', 'visible', and 'supervise', which is a useful reminder that the middle of the word is spelled with an 's' and ends in 'ise', not the noun-like 'ize' confusion that trips some writers.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• vise (from visere/videre: to see, look at)