authorship

noun

au·​thor·​ship ˈȯ-thər-ˌship How to pronounce authorship (audio)
1
: the profession of writing
2
: the source (such as the author) of a piece of writing, music, or art
3
: the state or act of writing, creating, or causing

Examples of authorship in a Sentence

His first attempt at authorship failed.
Recent Examples on the Web But in the then-emerging and exploitive Jamaican record business, Marley's authorship of o fewer than six smash hits in Jamaica netted him all of $200. Tommy McArdle, Peoplemag, 19 Feb. 2024 Here are some curious facts about it: Of the more than a quarter-million mathematicians who share an authorship chain with Erdős, the median number of hops required to reach him is five. Jack Murtagh, Scientific American, 24 Jan. 2024 Of course, Earthrise and The Blue Marble also have human authorship, and the planet is shown through the filter of manmade technology. Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 12 Feb. 2024 The Copyright Office rejected that application on the grounds that human authorship is necessary to secure a copyright, prompting Thaler to sue. Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 18 Aug. 2023 And muddling the manuscript’s authorship further is the fact that the tome may be based off of another text. Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 31 Jan. 2024 As established by Copyright Office precedent and judicial review, US copyright registration for a work requires human authorship. Benj Edwards, Ars Technica, 11 Sep. 2023 It could have been written by nobody at all—by Anonymous or by some mystery of collective authorship. James Parker, The Atlantic, 4 Dec. 2023 The experiment has Salle wrestling with the definition of art and the nature of authorship. Zachary Small, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'authorship.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

author entry 1 + -ship

First Known Use

1710, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of authorship was in 1710

Dictionary Entries Near authorship

Cite this Entry

“Authorship.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/authorship. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

authorship

noun
au·​thor·​ship ˈȯ-thər-ˌship How to pronounce authorship (audio)
1
: writing as an occupation
2
: the origin especially of a written work

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