document — English Dictionary

Noun

1. An original or official paper used as the basis, proof, or support of anything else, including any writing, book, or other instrument conveying information pertinent to such proof or support.

   Examples

   Saint Luke […] collected them from such documents and testimonies as he […] judged to be authentic.

2. Any material substance on which the information is represented by writing.

   Examples

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   If a morsel of food fell off your plate, the advice of one contemporary document was to pick it up, make the sign of the cross over it, season it well - and then eat it.

3. A file that contains text.

   Examples

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   That exception is the HTML tag–which transcludes an image into the context of the document. The image itself is neither embedded within the document nor copied—it is transcluded.

4. An object conveying information by whatever means, capable of being indexed alongside other similar objects.

   Examples

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   This study examines video game photography as a documentary practice. […] The three themes from this study's findings – that video game photographs act as (1) vehicles for storytelling, (2) creative trophies, and (3) aesthetic tokens – reveal how personally meaningful documents emerge from this medium.

5. That which is taught or authoritatively set forth; precept; instruction; dogma.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

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   And particularly they should take care that the memory of the learner be not too much crowded with a tumultuous heap or overbearing multitude of documents or ideas at one time.

6. An example for instruction or warning.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

   They were forthwith stoned to death, as a document to others.

Verb

1. To record in documents.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   He documented each step of the process as he did it, which was good when the investigation occurred.

   The relationship between memory as lived and history as documented is always a complex dialogue — each informing, and disinforming, the other.

   More examples (2)

   “Natural languages are adequate, but that doesn’t mean they’re optimal,” John Quijada, a fifty-three-year-old former employee of the California State Department of Motor Vehicles, told me. In 2004, he published a monograph on the Internet that was titled “Ithkuil: A Philosophical Design for a Hypothetical Language.” Written like a linguistics textbook, the fourteen-page Web site ran to almost a hundred and sixty thousand words. It documented the grammar, syntax, and lexicon of a language that Quijada had spent three decades inventing in his spare time.

   Significantly, on documenting Thomas's subsequent outlawry and Margery's waivery, the court clerk recorded that it was not known whether they had any chattels because they were strangers.

2. To furnish with documents or papers necessary to establish facts or give information.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   A ship should be documented according to the directions of law.

Noun

1. writing that provides information (especially information of an official nature)

   Synonyms

   written documentpapers

   Broader terms

   writingwritten materialpiece of writing

2. anything serving as a representation of a person's thinking by means of symbolic marks

   Broader terms

   representation

3. a written account of ownership or obligation

   Broader terms

   communication

4. (computer science) a computer file that contains text (and possibly formatting instructions) using seven-bit ASCII characters

   Synonyms

   text file

   Broader terms

   computer file

Verb

1. record in detail

   Broader terms

   recordenterput down

   Examples

   The parents documented every step of their child's development

2. support or supply with references

   Broader terms

   confirmcorroboratesustainsubstantiatesupportaffirm

   Examples

   Can you document your claims?