use-icon

HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY

To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.

Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.

guide to the dictionary

use-icon

THE USAGE PANEL

The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.

The Panelists

open-icon

AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP

The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.

scroll-icon

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG

The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.

100-words-icon

See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series!

Find out more!

open-icon

INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?

Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com

cop·y (kŏpē)
Share:
n. pl. cop·ies
1.
a. An imitation or reproduction of an original; a duplicate: a copy of a painting; made two copies of the letter.
b. Computers A file that has the same data as another file: stored on the server a copy of every document.
c. One example of a printed text, picture, film, or recording: an autographed copy of a novel.
2.
a. Material, such as a manuscript, that is to be set in type.
b. The words to be printed or spoken in an advertisement.
c. Suitable source material for journalism: Celebrities make good copy.
v. cop·ied, cop·y·ing, cop·ies
v.tr.
1. To make a reproduction or copy of: copied the note letter for letter; copied the file to a disk.
2. To follow as a model or pattern; imitate. See Synonyms at imitate.
3. To include as an additional recipient of a written communication: Please copy me when you reply to her.
v.intr.
1. To make a copy or copies.
2. To admit of being copied: colored ink that does not copy well.
3. To hear clearly or understand something said by radio communication: Mayday. Do you copy?

[Middle English copie, from Old French, from Medieval Latin cōpia, transcript, from Latin, profusion; see op- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

copy·a·ble, copi·a·ble adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.