Meaning & use
scrivener
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Meaning
nouncountableold-fashioned
A person whose job was to copy documents by hand or write legal papers, especially in the past.
Grammar: Countable noun; use 'a scrivener' for one, 'scriveners' for more than one.
Patterns
- a scrivener's office
- work as a scrivener
In the 19th century, a scrivener spent long hours copying legal documents by hand.
The old courthouse still has the desk where the scrivener wrote out contracts.
Melville's story 'Bartleby, the Scrivener' is about a law copyist who refuses to work.
Word forms
| plural | scriveners |
|---|
Common combinations
- legal scrivener
- The legal scrivener prepared the deed for the land sale.
- work as a scrivener
- Before the printing press, many educated men worked as scriveners.
- scrivener's error
- The judge corrected a scrivener's error in the contract.
Synonyms and how they differ
- scribe
- A scribe is a more general term for someone who copies manuscripts, often in ancient or religious contexts, while scrivener often suggests legal or business documents.
- copyist
- A copyist copies documents or music, but the word does not usually include the legal-drafting part of a scrivener's work.
- clerk
- A clerk is a general office worker who keeps records; a scrivener is specifically a hand-copyist or legal writer from earlier times.
Word family
- scrivening noun
- The activity or work of copying documents by hand.
Commonly confused: scrivener or scavenger?
scrivener vs scavenger
A scavenger searches for discarded items or feeds on dead animals; a scrivener copies documents. They sound somewhat similar but have completely different meanings.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'scrivener' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A scrivener is a historical word for a person who copied documents or wrote legal papers. The other options describe jobs or objects that have nothing to do with copying or writing.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “scrivener”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.