revise

Word family

• revision
  nounB2
• revised
  adjectiveB1
• reviser
  nounC1
• revisable
  adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four words involve changing something, but they differ in the scope and purpose of the change. Revise suggests looking at something again and making thoughtful corrections or improvements — you revise an essay, a budget, or an opinion. Amend is more formal and typically used for small, precise changes to official documents, laws, or statements. Update means bringing something up to date with new information rather than correcting errors — you update a database or a website but not typically an opinion. Rewrite implies starting over, writing the whole thing again from scratch. Review is the least active: it means looking at something carefully, but the word does not necessarily imply that changes will be made. For example: 'The lawyer amended the contract to fix a typo'; 'The author revised the final chapter to add more detail'; 'The IT team updated the software to fix bugs'; 'The editor asked the journalist to rewrite the entire article.'

Common collocations

Etymology

Revise comes from the Latin word revisere, meaning 'to look back at or visit again'. This is formed from re- ('again') and visere ('to go to see, visit'), which itself comes from videre ('to see'). The word entered English in the 16th century through French réviser, and originally referred to looking over written material again to check for errors — a meaning that remains central today. The sense of studying again for an exam developed in British English in the 19th century.