author

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   The person who wrote a book, article, play or similar text.

   Grammar: A regular countable noun: one author, three authors.

   Patterns

   • the author of something
   • a best-selling author

   The author of the novel will sign copies at the bookstore on Friday.

   Each chapter of the handbook has a different author.

   She is a well-known author of children's picture books.

2. 2nouncountableformal

   The person who first created or caused something, such as a plan, idea or scheme.

   Grammar: Usually followed by of: the author of the plan.

   Patterns

   • the author of something

   The mayor was the author of the city's bicycle-lane scheme.

   Nobody could say who was the author of the rumor.

   Historians still debate the real author of the treaty's key clause.

3. 3verbtransitive

   To write a book, report or other text, or to be the person who creates it.

   Grammar: Takes an object: she authored a report.

   Patterns

   • author something
   • something is authored by someone

   Two engineers authored the safety report.

   He has authored several books on urban history.

   The guidelines were authored by a panel of nurses.

Word forms

Common combinations

best-selling author

The best-selling author has sold millions of copies worldwide.

guest author

The blog invited a guest author to write about gardening.

co-author a paper

She co-authored a paper on coastal erosion.

author of the book

The author of the book lives in a small Welsh village.

author's note

An author's note at the end explains how the story was researched.

lead author

The lead author presented the findings at the conference.

Synonyms and how they differ

writer

Writer is the everyday word for anyone who writes, while author stresses having created a particular published work.

novelist

A novelist writes novels specifically, whereas an author may write any kind of book or text.

creator

Creator is much wider and can refer to anything made, not just written text.

originator

Originator suits the person who first thought of an idea, which matches the second sense but not the writing sense.

Word family

authorship noun

the fact of being the writer of something, or the question of who wrote it

coauthor noun

a person who writes a work together with someone else

authoress noun

an old-fashioned word for a woman author, now usually avoided

authorial adjective

relating to an author or the author's intentions

Commonly confused: author or authority?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “author”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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