redact

/ɹɪˈdækt/

Etymology

From Old French redacter, from Latin redactus, perfect passive participle of redigō (“drive, lead, collect, reduce”), from re- (“back”) + agō (“put in motion, drive”). Piecewise doublet of react.

redact means To censor, to black out or remove parts of a document while leaving the remainder. Lexicurio rates it Distinctive — a strength score of 67 out of 100.

Why this word is great

REDACT — [Verb] To edit text for publication, or to obscure or remove sensitive information from a document before release. From the Latin redigere, from re- ("back, again") and agere ("to drive, lead, do"), meaning "to drive back, bring together, reduce to a form." Unlike "censor," which implies moral or political suppression by authority, or "edit," which broadly prepares text for clarity, to redact is a forensic, technical act of protective omission. It is the clinical black bar over a witness's address, the systematic bracketing of identifiers from a medical transcript, and the pixelated face in a crowd that transforms a person into a ghost—a testament not to what is said, but to what must remain unsaid, crafting legibility from curated absence.

verb

To censor, to black out or remove parts of a document while leaving the remainder.“The military will redact the document before releasing it, blacking out sections that are classified.”
To black out legally protected sections of text in a document provided to opposing counsel, typically as part of the discovery process.
To reduce to form, as literary matter; to digest and put in shape (matter for publication); to edit.“[…] the account of his second expedition was carefully redacted, […]”
To draw up or frame a decree, statement, etc.“The Oath is redacted ; pronounced aloud by President Bailly, — and indeed in such a sonorous tone, that the cloud of witnesses, even outdoors, hear it, and bellow response to it.”
To bring together in one unit; to combine or bring together into one.“Octauianus Augustus, his successor and nevewe, redacte in to oon monarchy the realmes of alle the worlde.”
To gather or organize works or ideas into a unified whole; to collect, order, or write in a written document or to put into a particular written form.“yere, laborede and founde the arte of logike; þe rewles of whom and causes of þe begynnenge Plato fyndenge encreasede hit moche; but Aristotille redacte hit in an arte.”