prewrite

English

Etymology

From pre- +‎ write.

Verb

prewrite (third-person singular simple present prewrites, present participle prewriting, simple past prewrote, past participle prewritten)

1. (transitive) To make a first draft of ideas and format for an essay, thesis, article, or book as a plan for the actual writing.

   Some students, due to anxiety, skip the most important first step, which is to prewrite the thesis, and jump into the middle of the project, which is a fatal error.

Derived terms

• prewriter

Noun

prewrite (plural prewrites)

1. A first draft of a script, etc.
   • 2017, Daniel Bernardi, Julian Hoxter, Off the Page: Screenwriting in the Era of Media Convergence, page 82:

     The result has been that many professional screenwriters have felt obliged to undertake free drafts and prewrites […]

2. (computing, databases) A write operation that is buffered instead of being applied directly to the database.