Miscellaneous Entries.
revise; redact; recense. The first is the ordinary word. The second and third refer specifically to revising texts with close scrutiny. “Redact” = (1) to make a draft of; or (2) to edit. In American law, it is often used in the sense “to edit out or mask the privileged, impertinent, or objectionable matter in a document.” “Recense” is more of a literary term; it relates to scholarly editing of ancient texts and the like.
reviser; *revisor. The first is the preferred spelling.
revision; *revisal. The latter is a needless variant.
revisionary; *revisional; revisory. “Revisionary” = of, relating to, or made up of revision {revisionary methods}. “Revisional”* is a needless variant. “Revisory” = having power to revise; engaged in revision {a revisory board}.
revitalize has become a vogue word among politicians and businesspeople {to revitalize the inner city}. Avoid it.
revocability is pronounced /rev-uh-kuh-BIL-i-tee/.
revocable; *revokable. The first is preferred; the word is pronounced /REV-uh-kuh-buhl/. “Revokable”* (as well as “revokeable”*) is a needless variant.
revue (= a musical show) is so spelled. Avoid the erroneous variant “review” in this sense — e.g.: “Grapevine’s Runway Theatre is performing ‘Leader of the Pack,’ a musical review [read ‘revue’] of popular songs of the 1960s written by songwriter Ellie Greenwich.” “Arts Roundup: For a Limited Time,” Dallas Morning News, 24 July 1997, at G5. Language-Change Index — “review” misused for “revue”: Stage 1.
*Invariably inferior forms.
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Quotation of the Day: “By the time you have perfected any style of writing, you have always outgrown it.” George Orwell, “Why I Write” (1946), in A Collection of Essays 309, 316 (1946).
