WRITER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does writer mean? 

• WRITER (noun)
  The noun WRITER has 2 senses:

1. writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)

2. a person who is able to write and has written something

  Familiarity information: WRITER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WRITER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

author; writer

Hypernyms ("writer" is a kind of...):

communicator (a person who communicates with others)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "writer"):

abstracter; abstractor (one who makes abstracts or summarizes information)

alliterator (a speaker or writer who makes use of alliteration)

authoress (a woman author)

biographer (someone who writes an account of a person's life)

coauthor; joint author (a writer who collaborates with others in writing something)

commentator; reviewer (a writer who reports and analyzes events of the day)

compiler (a person who compiles information (as for reference purposes))

contributor (a writer whose work is published in a newspaper or magazine or as part of a book)

cyberpunk (a writer of science fiction set in a lawless subculture of an oppressive society dominated by computer technology)

drafter (a writer of a draft)

dramatist; playwright (someone who writes plays)

essayist; litterateur (a writer of literary works)

folk writer (a writer of folktales)

framer (someone who writes a new law or plan)

gagman; gagster; gagwriter (someone who writes comic material for public performers)

ghost; ghostwriter (a writer who gives the credit of authorship to someone else)

Gothic romancer (a writer of Gothic romances)

hack; hack writer; literary hack (a mediocre and disdained writer)

journalist (a writer for newspapers and magazines)

librettist (author of words to be set to music in an opera or operetta)

lyricist; lyrist (a person who writes the words for songs)

novelist (one who writes novels)

pamphleteer (a writer of pamphlets (usually taking a partisan stand on public issues))

paragrapher (a writer of paragraphs (as for publication on the editorial page of a newspaper))

poet (a writer of poems (the term is usually reserved for writers of good poetry))

polemic; polemicist; polemist (a writer who argues in opposition to others (especially in theology))

poetiser; poetizer; rhymer; rhymester; versifier (a writer who composes rhymes; a maker of poor verses (usually used as terms of contempt for minor or inferior poets))

scenarist (a writer of screenplays)

scriptwriter (someone who writes scripts for plays or movies or broadcast dramas)

space writer (a writer paid by the area of the copy)

speechwriter (a writer who composes speeches for others to deliver)

tragedian (a writer (especially a playwright) who writes tragedies)

wordmonger (a writer who uses language carelessly or pretentiously with little regard for meaning)

word-painter (a writer of vivid or graphic descriptive power)

wordsmith (a fluent and prolific writer)

Instance hyponyms:

Aiken; Conrad Aiken; Conrad Potter Aiken (United States writer (1889-1973))

Alger; Horatio Alger (United States author of inspirational adventure stories for boys; virtue and hard work overcome poverty (1832-1899))

Algren; Nelson Algren (United States writer (1909-1981))

Andersen; Hans Christian Andersen (a Danish author remembered for his fairy stories (1805-1875))

Anderson; Sherwood Anderson (United States author whose works were frequently autobiographical (1876-1941))

Aragon; Louis Aragon (French writer who generalized surrealism to literature (1897-1982))

Asch; Shalom Asch; Sholem Asch; Sholom Asch (United States writer (born in Poland) who wrote in Yiddish (1880-1957))

Asimov; Isaac Asimov (United States writer (born in Russia) noted for his science fiction (1920-1992))

Auchincloss; Louis Auchincloss; Louis Stanton Auchincloss (United States writer (born in 1917))

Austen; Jane Austen (English novelist noted for her insightful portrayals of middle-class families (1775-1817))

Baldwin; James Arthur Baldwin; James Baldwin (United States author who was an outspoken critic of racism (1924-1987))

Baraka; Imamu Amiri Baraka; LeRoi Jones (United States writer of poems and plays about racial conflict (born in 1934))

Barth; John Barth; John Simmons Barth (United States novelist (born in 1930))

Barthelme; Donald Barthelme (United States author of sometimes surrealistic stories (1931-1989))

Baum; Frank Baum; Lyman Frank Brown (United States writer of children's books (1856-1919))

Beauvoir; Simone de Beauvoir (French feminist and existentialist and novelist (1908-1986))

Beckett; Samuel Beckett (a playwright and novelist (born in Ireland) who lived in France; wrote plays for the theater of the absurd (1906-1989))

Beerbohm; Max Beerbohm; Sir Henry Maxmilian Beerbohm (English writer and caricaturist (1872-1956))

Belloc; Hilaire Belloc; Joseph Hilaire Peter Belloc (English author (born in France) remembered especially for his verse for children (1870-1953))

Bellow; Saul Bellow; Solomon Bellow (United States author (born in Canada) whose novels influenced American literature after World War II (1915-2005))

Benchley; Robert Benchley; Robert Charles Benchley (United States humorist (1889-1945))

Benet; William Rose Benet (United States writer; brother of Stephen Vincent Benet (1886-1950))

Ambrose Bierce; Ambrose Gwinett Bierce; Bierce (United States writer of caustic wit (1842-1914))

Boell; Heinrich Boell; Heinrich Theodor Boell (German novelist and writer of short stories (1917-1985))

Arna Wendell Bontemps; Bontemps (United States writer (1902-1973))

Borges; Jorge Borges; Jorge Luis Borges (Argentinian writer remembered for his short stories (1899-1986))

Boswell; James Boswell (Scottish author noted for his biography of Samuel Johnson (1740-1795))

Boyle; Kay Boyle (United States writer (1902-1992))

Bradbury; Ray Bradbury; Ray Douglas Bradbury (United States writer of science fiction (born 1920))

Bronte; Charlotte Bronte (English novelist; oldest of three Bronte sisters (1816-1855))

Bronte; Currer Bell; Emily Bronte; Emily Jane Bronte (English novelist; one of three Bronte sisters (1818-1848))

Anne Bronte; Bronte (English novelist; youngest of three Bronte sisters (1820-1849))

Artemus Ward; Browne; Charles Farrar Browne (United States writer of humorous tales of an itinerant showman (1834-1867))

Buck; Pearl Buck; Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (United States author whose novels drew on her experiences as a missionary in China (1892-1973))

Bunyan; John Bunyan (English preacher and author of an allegorical novel, Pilgrim's Progress (1628-1688))

Anthony Burgess; Burgess (English writer of satirical novels (1917-1993))

Burnett; Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett; Frances Hodgson Burnett (United States writer (born in England) remembered for her novels for children (1849-1924))

Burroughs; Edgar Rice Burroughs (United States novelist and author of the Tarzan stories (1875-1950))

Burroughs; William Burroughs; William S. Burroughs; William Seward Burroughs (United States writer noted for his works portraying the life of drug addicts (1914-1997))

Butler; Samuel Butler (English novelist who described a fictitious land he called Erewhon (1835-1902))

Cabell; James Branch Cabell (United States writer of satirical novels (1879-1958))

Caldwell; Erskine Caldwell; Erskine Preston Caldwell (United States author remembered for novels about poverty and degeneration (1903-1987))

Calvino; Italo Calvino (Italian writer of novels and short stories (born in Cuba) (1923-1987))

Albert Camus; Camus (French writer who portrayed the human condition as isolated in an absurd world (1913-1960))

Canetti; Elias Canetti (English writer born in Germany (1905-1994))

Capek; Karel Capek (Czech writer who introduced the word 'robot' into the English language (1890-1938))

Carroll; Charles Dodgson; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson; Dodgson; Lewis Carroll; Reverend Dodgson (English author; Charles Dodgson was an Oxford don of mathematics who is remembered for the children's stories he wrote under the pen name Lewis Carroll (1832-1898))

Cather; Willa Cather; Willa Sibert Cather (United States writer who wrote about frontier life (1873-1947))

Cervantes; Cervantes Saavedra; Miguel de Cervantes; Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Spanish writer best remembered for 'Don Quixote' which satirizes chivalry and influenced the development of the novel form (1547-1616))

Chandler; Raymond Chandler; Raymond Thornton Chandler (United States writer of detective thrillers featuring the character of Philip Marlowe (1888-1959))

Chateaubriand; Francois Rene Chateaubriand; Vicomte de Chateaubriand (French statesman and writer; considered a precursor of the romantic movement in France (1768-1848))

Cheever; John Cheever (United States writer of novels and short stories (1912-1982))

Chesterton; G. K. Chesterton; Gilbert Keith Chesterton (conservative English writer of the Roman Catholic persuasion; in addition to volumes of criticism and polemics he wrote detective novels featuring Father Brown (1874-1936))

Chopin; Kate Chopin; Kate O'Flaherty Chopin (United States writer who described Creole life in Louisiana (1851-1904))

Agatha Christie; Christie; Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie (prolific English writer of detective stories (1890-1976))

Churchill; Sir Winston Leonard Spenser Churchill; Winston Churchill; Winston S. Churchill (British statesman and leader during World War II; received Nobel prize for literature in 1953 (1874-1965))

Clemens; Mark Twain; Samuel Langhorne Clemens (United States writer and humorist best known for his novels about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (1835-1910))

Cocteau; Jean Cocteau (French writer and film maker who worked in many artistic media (1889-1963))

Colette; Sidonie-Gabrielle Claudine Colette; Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (French writer of novels about women (1873-1954))

Collins; Wilkie Collins; William Wilkie Collins (English writer noted for early detective novels (1824-1889))

A. Conan Doyle; Arthur Conan Doyle; Conan Doyle; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (British author who created Sherlock Holmes (1859-1930))

Conrad; Joseph Conrad; Teodor Josef Konrad Korzeniowski (English novelist (born in Poland) noted for sea stories and for his narrative technique (1857-1924))

Cooper; James Fenimore Cooper (United States novelist noted for his stories of American Indians and the frontier life (1789-1851))

Crane; Stephen Crane (United States writer (1871-1900))

cummings; e. e. cummings; Edward Estlin Cummings (United States writer noted for his typographically eccentric poetry (1894-1962))

Clarence Day; Clarence Shepard Day Jr.; Day (United States writer best known for his autobiographical works (1874-1935))

Daniel Defoe; Defoe (English writer remembered particularly for his novel about Robinson Crusoe (1660-1731))

De Quincey; Thomas De Quincey (English writer who described the psychological effects of addiction to opium (1785-1859))

Charles Dickens; Charles John Huffam Dickens; Dickens (English writer whose novels depicted and criticized social injustice (1812-1870))

Didion; Joan Didion (United States writer (born in 1934))

Baroness Karen Blixen; Blixen; Dinesen; Isak Dinesen; Karen Blixen (Danish writer who lived in Kenya for 19 years and is remembered for her writings about Africa (1885-1962))

Doctorow; E. L. Doctorow; Edgard Lawrence Doctorow (United States novelist (born in 1931))

Dos Passos; John Dos Passos; John Roderigo Dos Passos (United States novelist remembered for his portrayal of life in the United States (1896-1970))

Dostoevski; Dostoevsky; Dostoyevsky; Feodor Dostoevski; Feodor Dostoevsky; Feodor Dostoyevsky; Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoevski; Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky; Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky; Fyodor Dostoevski; Fyodor Dostoevsky; Fyodor Dostoyevsky; Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevski; Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky; Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (Russian novelist who wrote of human suffering with humor and psychological insight (1821-1881))

Dreiser; Theodore Dreiser; Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (United States novelist (1871-1945))

Alexandre Dumas; Dumas (French writer remembered for his swashbuckling historical tales (1802-1870))

du Maurier; George du Maurier; George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (English writer and illustrator; grandfather of Daphne du Maurier (1834-1896))

Dame Daphne du Maurier; Daphne du Maurier; du Maurier (English writer of melodramatic novels (1907-1989))

Durrell; Lawrence Durrell; Lawrence George Durrell (English writer of Irish descent who spent much of his life in Mediterranean regions (1912-1990))

Ehrenberg; Ilya Ehrenberg; Ilya Grigorievich Ehrenberg (Russian novelist (1891-1967))

Eliot; George Eliot; Mary Ann Evans (British writer of novels characterized by realistic analysis of provincial Victorian society (1819-1880))

Ellison; Ralph Ellison; Ralph Waldo Ellison (United States novelist who wrote about a young Black man and his struggles in American society (1914-1994))

Emerson; Ralph Waldo Emerson (United States writer and leading exponent of transcendentalism (1803-1882))

Farrell; James Thomas Farrell (United States writer remembered for his novels (1904-1979))

Edna Ferber; Ferber (United States novelist; author of several popular novels (1887-1968))

Fielding; Henry Fielding (English novelist and dramatist (1707-1754))

F. Scott Fitzgerald; Fitzgerald; Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (United States author whose novels characterized the Jazz Age in the United States (1896-1940))

Flaubert; Gustave Flaubert (French writer of novels and short stories (1821-1880))

Fleming; Ian Fleming; Ian Lancaster Fleming (British writer famous for writing spy novels about secret agent James Bond (1908-1964))

Ford; Ford Hermann Hueffer; Ford Madox Ford (English writer and editor (1873-1939))

C. S. Forester; Cecil Scott Forester; Forester (English writer of adventure novels featuring Captain Horatio Hornblower (1899-1966))

Anatole France; France; Jacques Anatole Francois Thibault (French writer of sophisticated novels and short stories (1844-1924))

Benjamin Franklin; Franklin (printer whose success as an author led him to take up politics; he helped draw up the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution; he played a major role in the American Revolution and negotiated French support for the colonists; as a scientist he is remembered particularly for his research in electricity (1706-1790))

Carlos Fuentes; Fuentes (Mexican novelist (born in 1928))

Emile Gaboriau; Gaboriau (French writer considered by some to be a founder of the detective novel (1832-1873))

Galsworthy; John Galsworthy (English novelist (1867-1933))

Erle Stanley Gardner; Gardner (writer of detective novels featuring Perry Mason (1889-1970))

Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson Gaskell; Elizabeth Gaskell; Gaskell (English writer who is remembered for her biography of Charlotte Bronte (1810-1865))

Dr. Seuss; Geisel; Theodor Seuss Geisel (United States writer of children's books (1904-1991))

Gibran; Kahlil Gibran (United States writer (born in Lebanon) (1883-1931))

Andre Gide; Andre Paul Guillaume Gide; Gide (French author and dramatist who is regarded as the father of modern French literature (1869-1951))

Gjellerup; Karl Gjellerup (Danish novelist (1857-1919))

Gogol; Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (Russian writer who introduced realism to Russian literature (1809-1852))

Golding; Sir William Gerald Golding; William Golding (English novelist (1911-1993))

Goldsmith; Oliver Goldsmith (Irish writer of novels and poetry and plays and essays (1728-1774))

Gombrowicz; Witold Gombrowicz (Polish author (1904-1969))

Edmond de Goncourt; Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt; Goncourt (French writer who collaborated with his brother Jules de Goncourt on many books and who in his will established the Prix Goncourt (1822-1896))

Goncourt; Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt; Jules de Goncourt (French writer who collaborated with his brother Edmond de Goncourt on many books (1830-1870))

Gordimer; Nadine Gordimer (South African novelist and short-story writer whose work describes the effects of apartheid (born in 1923))

Aleksey Maksimovich Peshkov; Aleksey Maximovich Peshkov; Gorki; Gorky; Maksim Gorky; Maxim Gorki (Russian writer of plays and novels and short stories; noted for his depiction of social outcasts)

Grahame; Kenneth Grahame (English writer (born in Scotland) of children's stories (1859-1932))

Grass; Gunter Grass; Gunter Wilhelm Grass (German writer of novels and poetry and plays (born 1927))

Graves; Robert Graves; Robert Ranke Graves (English writer known for his interest in mythology and in the classics (1895-1985))

Graham Greene; Greene; Henry Graham Greene (English novelist and Catholic (1904-1991))

Grey; Zane Grey (United States writer of western adventure novels (1875-1939))

Grimm; Jakob Grimm; Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm (the older of the two Grimm brothers remembered best for their fairy stories; also author of Grimm's law describing consonant changes in Germanic languages (1785-1863))

Grimm; Wilhelm Grimm; Wilhelm Karl Grimm (the younger of the two Grimm brothers remembered best for their fairy stories (1786-1859))

Haggard; Rider Haggard; Sir Henry Rider Haggard (British writer noted for romantic adventure novels (1856-1925))

Elizabeth Haldane; Elizabeth Sanderson Haldane; Haldane (Scottish writer and sister of Richard Haldane and John Haldane (1862-1937))

Edward Everett Hale; Hale (prolific United States writer (1822-1909))

Alex Haley; Haley (United States writer and Afro-American who wrote a fictionalized account of tracing his family roots back to Africa (1921-1992))

Hall; Marguerite Radclyffe Hall; Radclyffe Hall (English writer whose novel about a lesbian relationship was banned in Britain for many years (1883-1943))

Dashiell Hammett; Hammett; Samuel Dashiell Hammett (United States writer of hard-boiled detective fiction (1894-1961))

Hamsun; Knut Hamsun; Knut Pedersen (Norwegian writer of novels (1859-1952))

Hardy; Thomas Hardy (English novelist and poet (1840-1928))

Frank Harris; Harris; James Thomas Harris (Irish writer noted for his sexually explicit but unreliable autobiography (1856-1931))

Harris; Joel Chandler Harris; Joel Harris (United States author who wrote the stories about Uncle Remus (1848-1908))

Bret Harte; Harte (United States writer noted for his stories about life during the California gold rush (1836-1902))

Hasek; Jaroslav Hasek (Czech author of novels and short stories (1883-1923))

Hawthorne; Nathaniel Hawthorne (United States writer of novels and short stories mostly on moral themes (1804-1864))

Ben Hecht; Hecht (United States writer of stories and plays (1894-1946))

Heinlein; Robert A. Heinlein; Robert Anson Heinlein (United States writer of science fiction (1907-1988))

Heller; Joseph Heller (United States novelist whose best known work was a black comedy inspired by his experiences in the Air Force during World War II (1923-1999))

Ernest Hemingway; Hemingway (an American writer of fiction who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1954 (1899-1961))

Hermann Hesse; Hesse (Swiss writer (born in Germany) whose novels and poems express his interests in eastern spiritual values (1877-1962))

Heyse; Paul Heyse; Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse (German writer (1830-1914))

DuBois Heyward; Edwin DuBois Hayward; Heyward (United States writer (1885-1940))

Higginson; Thomas Higginson; Thomas Wentworth Storrow Higginson (United States writer and soldier who led the first Black regiment in the Union Army (1823-1911))

E. T. A. Hoffmann; Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann; Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann; Hoffmann (German writer of fantastic tales (1776-1822))

Holmes; Oliver Wendell Holmes (United States writer of humorous essays (1809-1894))

Howells; William Dean Howells (United States writer and editor (1837-1920))

Edmond Hoyle; Hoyle (English writer on card games (1672-1769))

Hubbard; L. Ron Hubbard (a United States writer of science fiction and founder of Scientology (1911-1986))

Hughes; James Langston Hughes; Langston Hughes (United States writer (1902-1967))

Hunt; James Henry Leigh Hunt; Leigh Hunt (British writer who defended the Romanticism of Keats and Shelley (1784-1859))

Aldous Huxley; Aldous Leonard Huxley; Huxley (English writer; grandson of Thomas Huxley who is remembered mainly for his depiction of a scientifically controlled utopia (1894-1963))

Irving; John Irving (United States writer of darkly humorous novels (born in 1942))

Irving; Washington Irving (United States writer remembered for his stories (1783-1859))

Christopher Isherwood; Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood; Isherwood (United States writer (born in England) whose best known novels portray Berlin in the 1930's and who collaborated with W. H. Auden in writing plays in verse (1904-1986))

Helen Hunt Jackson; Helen Maria Fiske Hunt Jackson; Jackson (United States writer of romantic novels about the unjust treatment of Native Americans (1830-1885))

Jacobs; Jane Jacobs (United States writer and critic of urban planning (born in 1916))

Jacobs; W. W. Jacobs; William Wymark Jacobs (English writer of macabre short stories (1863-1943))

Henry James; James (writer who was born in the United States but lived in England (1843-1916))

Jensen; Johannes Vilhelm Jensen (modernistic Danish writer (1873-1950))

Dr. Johnson; Johnson; Samuel Johnson (English writer and lexicographer (1709-1784))

Erica Jong; Jong (United States writer (born in 1942))

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce; James Joyce; Joyce (influential Irish writer noted for his many innovations (such as stream of consciousness writing) (1882-1941))

Franz Kafka; Kafka (Czech novelist who wrote in German about a nightmarish world of isolated and troubled individuals (1883-1924))

Helen Adams Keller; Helen Keller; Keller (United States lecturer and writer who was blind and deaf from the age of 19 months; Anne Sullivan taught her to read and write and speak; Helen Keller graduated from college and went on to champion the cause of blind and deaf people (1880-1968))

Jack Kerouac; Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac; Kerouac (United States writer who was a leading figure of the beat generation (1922-1969))

Ken Elton Kesey; Ken Kesey; Kesey (United States writer whose best-known novel was based on his experiences as an attendant in a mental hospital (1935-2001))

Joseph Rudyard Kipling; Kipling; Rudyard Kipling (English author of novels and poetry who was born in India (1865-1936))

Arthur Koestler; Koestler (British writer (born in Hungary) who wrote a novel exposing the Stalinist purges during the 1930s (1905-1983))

Jean de La Fontaine; La Fontaine (French writer who collected Aesop's fables and published them (1621-1695))

Lardner; Ring Lardner; Ringgold Wilmer Lardner (United States humorist and writer of satirical short stories (1885-1933))

Francois de La Rochefoucauld; La Rochefoucauld (French writer of moralistic maxims (1613-1680))

D. H. Lawrence; David Herbert Lawrence; Lawrence (English novelist and poet and essayist whose work condemned industrial society and explored sexual relationships (1885-1930))

Lawrence; Lawrence of Arabia; T. E. Lawrence; Thomas Edward Lawrence (Welsh soldier who from 1916 to 1918 organized the Arab revolt against the Turks; he later wrote an account of his adventures (1888-1935))

David John Moore Cornwell; John le Carre; le Carre (English writer of novels of espionage (born in 1931))

Dutch Leonard; Elmore John Leonard; Elmore Leonard; Leonard (United States writer of thrillers (born in 1925))

Lermontov; Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov (Russian writer (1814-1841))

Doris Lessing; Doris May Lessing; Lessing (English author of novels and short stories who grew up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) (born in 1919))

C. S. Lewis; Clive Staples Lewis; Lewis (English critic and novelist; author of theological works and of books for children (1898-1963))

Harry Sinclair Lewis; Lewis; Sinclair Lewis (United States novelist who satirized middle-class America in his novel Main Street (1885-1951))

Jack London; John Griffith Chaney; London (United States writer of novels based on experiences in the Klondike gold rush (1876-1916))

Clarence Malcolm Lowry; Lowry; Malcolm Lowry (English novelist (1909-1957))

John Lyly; Lyly (English writer noted for his elaborate style (1554-1606))

Bulwer-Lytton; Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton; First Baron Lytton; Lytton (English writer of historical romances (1803-1873))

Mailer; Norman Mailer (United States writer (born in 1923))

Bernard Malamud; Malamud (United States writer (1914-1986))

Malory; Sir Thomas Malory; Thomas Malory (English writer who published a translation of romances about King Arthur taken from French and other sources (died in 1471))

Andre Malraux; Malraux (French novelist (1901-1976))

Mann; Thomas Mann (German writer concerned about the role of the artist in bourgeois society (1875-1955))

Katherine Mansfield; Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp; Mansfield (New Zealand writer of short stories (1888-1923))

Alessandro Manzoni; Manzoni (Italian novelist and poet (1785-1873))

John Marquand; John Philip Marquand; Marquand (United States writer who created the Japanese detective Mr. Moto and wrote other novels as well (1893-1960))

Marsh; Ngaio Marsh (New Zealand writer of detective stories (1899-1982))

A. E. W. Mason; Alfred Edward Woodley Mason; Mason (English writer (1865-1948))

Maugham; Somerset Maugham; W. Somerset Maugham; William Somerset Maugham (English writer (born in France) of novels and short stories (1874-1965))

Guy de Maupassant; Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant; Maupassant (French writer noted especially for his short stories (1850-1893))

Francois Charles Mauriac; Francois Mauriac; Mauriac (French novelist who wrote about the conflict between desire and religious belief (1885-1970))

Andre Maurois; Emile Herzog; Maurois (French writer best known for his biographies (1885-1967))

Mary McCarthy; Mary Therese McCarthy; McCarthy (United States satirical novelist and literary critic (1912-1989))

Carson McCullers; Carson Smith McCullers; McCullers (United States novelist (1917-1967))

Herbert Marshall McLuhan; Marshall McLuhan; McLuhan (Canadian writer noted for his analyses of the mass media (1911-1980))

Herman Melville; Melville (United States writer of novels and short stories (1819-1891))

Merton; Thomas Merton (United States religious and writer (1915-1968))

James Albert Michener; James Michener; Michener (United States writer of historical novels (1907-1997))

Henry Miller; Henry Valentine Miller; Miller (United States novelist whose novels were originally banned as pornographic (1891-1980))

A. A. Milne; Alan Alexander Milne; Milne (English writer of stories for children (1882-1956))

Margaret Mitchell; Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell; Mitchell (United States writer noted for her novel about the South during the American Civil War (1900-1949))

Mitford; Nancy Freeman Mitford; Nancy Mitford (English writer of comic novels (1904-1973))

Jessica Lucy Mitford; Jessica Mitford; Mitford (United States writer (born in England) who wrote on American culture (1917-1996))

Michel Eyquem Montaigne; Michel Montaigne; Montaigne (French writer regarded as the originator of the modern essay (1533-1592))

L. M. Montgomery; Lucy Maud Montgomery; Montgomery (Canadian novelist (1874-1942))

More; Sir Thomas More; Thomas More (English statesman who opposed Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and was imprisoned and beheaded; recalled for his concept of Utopia, the ideal state)

Chloe Anthony Wofford; Morrison; Toni Morrison (United States writer whose novels describe the lives of African-Americans (born in 1931))

H. H. Munro; Hector Hugh Munro; Munro; Saki (British writer of short stories (1870-1916))

Dame Jean Iris Murdoch; Iris Murdoch; Murdoch (British writer (born in Ireland) known primarily for her novels (1919-1999))

Alfred de Musset; Louis Charles Alfred de Musset; Musset (French poet and writer (1810-1857))

Nabokov; Vladimir Nabokov; Vladimir vladimirovich Nabokov (United States writer (born in Russia) (1899-1977))

Nash; Ogden Nash (United States writer noted for his droll epigrams (1902-1971))

Harold Nicolson; Nicolson; Sir Harold George Nicolson (English diplomat and author (1886-1968))

Benjamin Franklin Norris Jr.; Frank Norris; Norris (United States writer (1870-1902))

Joyce Carol Oates; Oates (United States writer (born in 1938))

Edna O'Brien; O'Brien (Irish writer (born in 1932))

Flannery O'Connor; Mary Flannery O'Connor; O'Connor (United States writer (1925-1964))

Liam O'Flaherty; O'Flaherty (Irish writer of short stories (1896-1984))

John Henry O'Hara; O'Hara (United States writer (1905-1970))

Michael Ondaatje; Ondaatje; Philip Michael Ondaatje (Canadian writer (born in Sri Lanka in 1943))

Baroness Emmusca Orczy; Orczy (British writer (born in Hungary) (1865-1947))

Eric Arthur Blair; Eric Blair; George Orwell; Orwell (imaginative British writer concerned with social justice (1903-1950))

Page; Thomas Nelson Page (United States diplomat and writer about the Old South (1853-1922))

Dorothy Parker; Dorothy Rothschild Parker; Parker (United States writer noted for her sharp wit (1893-1967))

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak; Boris Pasternak; Pasternak (Russian writer whose best known novel was banned by Soviet authorities but translated and published abroad (1890-1960))

Alan Paton; Alan Stewart Paton; Paton (South African writer (1903-1988))

Percy; Walker Percy (United States writer whose novels explored human alienation (1916-1990))

Gaius Petronius; Petronius; Petronius Arbiter (Roman satirist (died in 66))

Plath; Sylvia Plath (United States writer and poet (1932-1963))

Gaius Plinius Secundus; Pliny; Pliny the Elder (Roman author of an encyclopedic natural history; died while observing the eruption of Vesuvius (23-79))

Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus; Pliny; Pliny the Younger (Roman writer and nephew of Pliny the Elder; author of books of letters that commented on affairs of the day (62-113))

Edgar Allan Poe; Poe (United States writer and poet (1809-1849))

O. Henry; Porter; William Sydney Porter (United States writer of short stories whose pen name was O. Henry (1862-1910))

Katherine Anne Porter; Porter (United States writer of novels and short stories (1890-1980))

Emily Post; Emily Price Post; Post (United States female author who wrote a book and a syndicated newspaper column on etiquette (1872-1960))

Ezra Loomis Pound; Ezra Pound; Pound (United States writer who lived in Europe; strongly influenced the development of modern literature (1885-1972))

John Cowper Powys; Powys (British writer of novels about nature; one of three literary brothers (1872-1963))

Powys; Theodore Francis Powys (British writer of allegorical novels; one of three literary brothers (1875-1953))

Llewelyn Powys; Powys (British writer of essays; one of three literary brothers (1884-1939))

Howard Pyle; Pyle (United States writer and illustrator of children's books (1853-1911))

Pynchon; Thomas Pynchon (United States writer of pessimistic novels about life in a technologically advanced society (born in 1937))

Ayn Rand; Rand (United States writer (born in Russia) noted for her polemical novels and political conservativism (1905-1982))

Mordecai Richler; Richler (Canadian novelist (born in 1931))

Kenneth Roberts; Roberts (United States writer remembered for his historical novels about colonial America (1885-1957))

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt; Eleanor Roosevelt; Roosevelt (wife of Franklin Roosevelt and a strong advocate of human rights (1884-1962))

Philip Milton Roth; Philip Roth; Roth (United States writer whose novels portray middle-class Jewish life (born in 1933))

Jean-Jacques Rousseau; Rousseau (French philosopher and writer born in Switzerland; believed that the natural goodness of man was warped by society; ideas influenced the French Revolution (1712-1778))

Alfred Damon Runyon; Damon Runyon; Runyon (United States writer of humorous stylized stories about Broadway and the New York underground (1884-1946))

Ahmed Salman Rushdie; Rushdie; Salman Rushdie (British writer of novels who was born in India; one of his novels is regarded as blasphemous by Muslims and a fatwa was issued condemning him to death (born in 1947))

A.E.; George William Russell; Russell (Irish writer whose pen name was A.E. (1867-1935))

Comte Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade; de Sade; Marquis de Sade; Sade (French soldier and writer whose descriptions of sexual perversion gave rise to the term 'sadism' (1740-1814))

J. D. Salinger; Jerome David Salinger; Salinger (United States writer (born 1919))

Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin; Baroness Dudevant; George Sand; Sand (French writer known for works concerning women's rights and independence (1804-1876))

Carl Sandburg; Sandburg (United States writer remembered for his poetry in free verse and his six volume biography of Abraham Lincoln (1878-1967))

Saroyan; William Saroyan (United States writer of plays and short stories (1908-1981))

Dorothy L. Sayers; Dorothy Leigh Sayers; Dorothy Sayers; Sayers (English writer of detective fiction (1893-1957))

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller; Schiller (German romantic writer (1759-1805))

Scott; Sir Walter Scott; Walter Scott (British author of historical novels and ballads (1771-1832))

Robert William Service; Service (Canadian writer (born in England) who wrote about life in the Yukon Territory (1874-1958))

G. B. Shaw; George Bernard Shaw; Shaw (British playwright (born in Ireland); founder of the Fabian Society (1856-1950))

Mary Godwin Wollstonecraft Shelley; Mary Shelley; Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley; Shelley (English writer who created Frankenstein's monster and married Percy Bysshe Shelley (1797-1851))

Nevil Shute; Nevil Shute Norway; Shute (English novelist who settled in Australia after World War II (1899-1960))

Georges Joseph Christian Simenon; Georges Simenon; Simenon (French writer (born in Belgium) best known for his detective novels featuring Inspector Maigret (1903-1989))

Sinclair; Upton Beall Sinclair; Upton Sinclair (United States writer whose novels argued for social reform (1878-1968))

Isaac Bashevis Singer; Singer (United States writer (born in Poland) of Yiddish stories and novels (1904-1991))

Smollett; Tobias George Smollett; Tobias Smollett (Scottish writer of adventure novels (1721-1771))

Baron Snow of Leicester; C. P. Snow; Charles Percy Snow; Snow (English writer of novels about moral dilemmas in academe (1905-1980))

Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn; Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn; Solzhenitsyn (Soviet writer and political dissident whose novels exposed the brutality of Soviet labor camps (born in 1918))

Sontag; Susan Sontag (United States writer (born in 1933))

Dame Muriel Spark; Muriel Sarah Spark; Muriel Spark; Spark (Scottish writer of satirical novels (born in 1918))

Frank Morrison Spillane; Mickey Spillane; Spillane (United States writer of popular detective novels (born in 1918))

Baronne Anne Louise Germaine Necker de Steal-Holstein; Madame de Stael; Stael (French romantic writer (1766-1817))

Sir Richrd Steele; Steele (English writer (1672-1729))

Gertrude Stein; Stein (experimental expatriate United States writer (1874-1946))

John Ernst Steinbeck; John Steinbeck; Steinbeck (United States writer noted for his novels about agricultural workers (1902-1968))

Marie Henri Beyle; Stendhal (French writer whose novels were the first to feature psychological analysis of the character (1783-1842))

Sir Leslie Stephen; Stephen (English writer (1832-1904))

Laurence Sterne; Sterne (English writer (born in Ireland) (1713-1766))

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson; Robert Louis Stevenson; Stevenson (Scottish author (1850-1894))

Francis Richard Stockton; Frank Stockton; Stockton (United States writer (1834-1902))

Abraham Stoker; Bram Stoker; Stoker (Irish writer of the horror novel about Dracula (1847-1912))

Harriet Beecher Stowe; Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe; Stowe (United States writer of a novel about slavery that advanced the abolitionists' cause (1811-1896))

Styron; William Styron (United States writer best known for his novels (born in 1925))

Eugene Sue; Sue (French writer whose novels described the sordid side of city life (1804-1857))

John Addington Symonds; Symonds (English writer (1840-1893))

Rabindranath Tagore; Sir Rabindranath Tagore; Tagore (Indian writer and philosopher whose poetry (based on traditional Hindu themes) pioneered the use of colloquial Bengali (1861-1941))

Ida M. Tarbell; Ida Minerva Tarbell; Ida Tarbell; Tarbell (United States writer remembered for her muckraking investigations into industries in the early 20th century (1857-1944))

Thackeray; William Makepeace Thackeray (English writer (born in India) (1811-1863))

Henry David Thoreau; Thoreau (United States writer and social critic (1817-1862))

Alexis Charles Henri Maurice de Tocqueville; Alexis de Tocqueville; Tocqueville (French political writer noted for his analysis of American institutions (1805-1859))

Alice B. Toklas; Toklas (United States writer remembered as the secretary and companion of Gertrude Stein (1877-1967))

J.R.R. Tolkien; John Ronald Reuel Tolkien; Tolkien (British philologist and writer of fantasies (born in South Africa) (1892-1973))

Count Lev Nikolayevitch Tolstoy; Leo Tolstoy; Tolstoy (Russian author remembered for two great novels (1828-1910))

Anthony Trollope; Trollope (English writer of novels (1815-1882))

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev; Ivan Turgenev; Turgenev (Russian writer of stories and novels and plays (1818-1883))

Sigrid Undset; Undset (Norwegian novelist (1882-1949))

Louis Untermeyer; Untermeyer (United States writer (1885-1977))

John Hoyer Updike; John Updike; Updike (United States author (born 1932))

Carl Clinton Van Doren; Carl Van Doren; Van Doren (United States writer and literary critic (1885-1950))

Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa; Mario Vargas Llosa; Vargas Llosa (Peruvian writer (born in 1936))

Jules Verne; Verne (French writer who is considered the father of science fiction (1828-1905))

Eugene Luther Vidal; Gore Vidal; Vidal (United States writer (born in 1925))

Arouet; Francois-Marie Arouet; Voltaire (French writer who was the embodiment of 18th century Enlightenment (1694-1778))

Kurt Vonnegut; Vonnegut (United States writer whose novels and short stories are a mixture of realism and satire and science fiction (born in 1922))

John Barrington Wain; John Wain; Wain (English writer (1925-1994))

Alice Malsenior Walker; Alice Walker; Walker (United States writer (born in 1944))

Edgar Wallace; Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace; Wallace (English writer noted for his crime novels (1875-1932))

Fourth Earl of Orford; Horace Walpole; Horatio Walpole; Walpole (English writer and historian; son of Sir Robert Walpole (1717-1797))

Izaak Walton; Walton (English writer remember for his treatise on fishing (1593-1683))

Mary Augusta Arnold Ward; Mrs. Humphrey Ward; Ward (English writer of novels who was an active opponent of the women's suffrage movement (1851-1920))

Robert Penn Warren; Warren (United States writer and poet (1905-1989))

Evelyn Arthur Saint John Waugh; Evelyn Waugh; Waugh (English author of satirical novels (1903-1966))

Beatrice Webb; Martha Beatrice Potter Webb; Webb (English writer and a central member of the Fabian Society (1858-1943))

H. G. Wells; Herbert George Wells; Wells (prolific English writer best known for his science-fiction novels; he also wrote on contemporary social problems and wrote popular accounts of history and science (1866-1946))

Eudora Welty; Welty (United States writer about rural southern life (1909-2001))

Franz Werfel; Werfel (United States writer (1890-1945))

Cicily Isabel Fairfield; Dame Rebecca West; Rebecca West; West (British writer (born in Ireland) (1892-1983))

Edith Newbold Jones Wharton; Edith Wharton; Wharton (United States novelist (1862-1937))

E. B. White; Elwyn Brooks White; White (United States writer noted for his humorous essays (1899-1985))

Patrick Victor Martindale White; Patrick White; White (Australian writer (1912-1990))

Elie Wiesel; Eliezer Wiesel; Wiesel (United States writer (born in Romania) who survived Nazi concentration camps and is dedicated to keeping alive the memory of the Holocaust (born in 1928))

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde; Oscar Wilde; Wilde (Irish writer and wit (1854-1900))

Thornton Niven Wilder; Thornton Wilder; Wilder (United States writer and dramatist (1897-1975))

Angus Frank Johnstone Wilson; Sir Angus Wilson; Wilson (English writer of novels and short stories (1913-1991))

Harriet Wilson; Wilson (author of the first novel by an African American that was published in the United States (1808-1870))

Owen Wister; Wister (United States writer (1860-1938))

P. G. Wodehouse; Pelham Grenville Wodehouse; Wodehouse (English writer known for his humorous novels and stories (1881-1975))

Thomas Clayton Wolfe; Thomas Wolfe; Wolfe (United States writer best known for his autobiographical novels (1900-1938))

Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr.; Thomas Wolfe; Tom Wolfe; Wolfe (United States writer who has written extensively on American culture (born in 1931))

Mary Wollstonecraft; Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; Wollstonecraft (English writer and early feminist who denied male supremacy and advocated equal education for women; mother of Mary Shelley (1759-1797))

Ellen Price Wood; Mrs. Henry Wood; Wood (English writer of novels about murders and thefts and forgeries (1814-1887))

Adeline Virginia Stephen Woolf; Virginia Woolf; Woolf (English author whose work used such techniques as stream of consciousness and the interior monologue; prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group (1882-1941))

Herman Wouk; Wouk (United States writer (born in 1915))

Richard Wright; Wright (United States writer whose work is concerned with the oppression of African Americans (1908-1960))

S. S. Van Dine; Willard Huntington Wright; Wright (United States writer of detective novels (1888-1939))

Israel Zangwill; Zangwill (English writer (1864-1926))

Stefan Zweig; Zweig (Austrian writer (1881-1942))

Derivation:

write (produce a literary work)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who is able to write and has written something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("writer" is a kind of...):

literate; literate person (a person who can read and write)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "writer"):

diarist; diary keeper; journalist (someone who keeps a diary or journal)

scrawler; scribbler (a writer whose handwriting is careless and hard to read)

good speller; poor speller; speller (someone who spells words)

transcriber (someone who makes a written version of spoken material)

transcriber (someone who rewrites in a different script)

Derivation:

write (communicate or express by writing)

write (communicate (with) in writing)

write (mark or trace on a surface)

 Context examples 

That Ruth had little faith in his power as a writer, did not alter her nor diminish her in Martin's eyes.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

At this rate, I shall not pity the writers of history any longer.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

“I am going through Tidd's Practice. Oh, what a writer Mr. Tidd is, Master Copperfield!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

You don’t have to be a professional writer to enjoy this trend (but if you are, well, this is very good news).

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The writer of this note is certainly English.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She studied every sentence; and her feelings towards its writer were at times widely different.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

“And by all accounts a very odd writer,” added the lawyer.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

There can be no doubt that the probability—the strong probability—is that the writer was on board of a ship.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Here I could only make sense by putting T and G for the missing letters, and supposing that the name was that of some house or inn at which the writer was staying.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For the first time in my life I experienced the desire to murder—“saw red,” as some of our picturesque writers phrase it.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)