a passage selected from a larger work
"he presented excerpts from William James' philosophical writings"
A clip, snippet, passage or extract from a larger work such as a news article, a film, or a literary composition.
"The editor decided to use an excerpt from the author's latest novel in the promotional video for the book club meeting."
In plain English: An excerpt is a small part of a longer piece of writing that has been taken out and used somewhere else.
"She read an exciting excerpt from her favorite novel during the coffee break."
Usage: Use "excerpt" as a noun to refer to a selected portion of a larger text, speech, or audio recording that has been taken out for display or analysis. It is commonly followed by the preposition "from" to indicate the original source material.
To select or copy sample material (excerpts) from a work.
"The editor decided to include several excerpts from the author's unpublished journal in the new biography."
In plain English: To excerpt something means to take a small part out of a larger work and use it separately.
"The editor decided to excerpt the most humorous part of the speech for the local newspaper."
Usage: Use the verb excerpt to mean selecting or copying a specific passage from a larger text, such as when a writer quotes an author in an article. Avoid using it for general summaries or paraphrases, which should instead use words like summarize or adapt.
The word comes from the Latin excerpere, meaning "to pick out," which combines the prefix for "out" with a verb meaning "to pick or pluck." It entered English to describe the act of selecting and removing specific passages from a larger text.