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PlainSpell

redact

/ɹɪˈdækt/verb

redact is spelled R-E-D-A-C-T: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 92,628th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, redact means “To censor, to black out or remove parts of a document while leaving the remainder” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in redact?

Letters6: R-E-D-A-C-T
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 10 million words; the 92,628th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is redact?

Redact appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 92,628th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce redact?

  • /ɹɪˈdækt/

Redact has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-redact.ogg, En-au-redact.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of redact

  • redacts present, singular, he/she/it
  • redacting participle, present
  • redacted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does redact mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    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.

  2. 2

    To black out legally protected sections of text in a document provided to opposing counsel, typically as part of the discovery process.

  3. 3

    To reduce to form, as literary matter; to digest and put in shape (matter for publication); to edit.

  4. 4

    rareTo draw up or frame a decree, statement, etc.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo bring together in one unit; to combine or bring together into one.

  6. 6

    obsoleteTo 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.

  7. 7

    obsoleterareTo insert or assimilate into a written system or scheme.

  8. 8

    obsoleterareTo bring an area of study within the comprehension capacity of a person.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Redact in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Spanishredactar (to reduce to form, as literary matter; to…), expurgar, testar (to censor, to black out or remove parts of (a…)
Frenchcensurer, caviarder (to censor, to black out or remove parts of (a…)
Germanbearbeiten, redigieren, schwärzen (to censor, to black out or remove parts of (a…)
Portugueseexpurgar, censurar (to censor, to black out or remove parts of (a…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does redact come from?

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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after redact