Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To work as a ghostwriter.
  • intransitive verb To write (a speech, for example) as a ghostwriter.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To write (a book, article, speech, etc.) for someone else; -- the written material appears under the name of the person for whom it was written.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To write under the name of another (especially literary works).
  • verb transitive To author a literary work or speech in the place of another.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb write for someone else

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The lobbyists and the think tanks 'ghostwrite' our economic policies; the politicos just 'sign off' on them.

    Whatcha Gonna Do About Me? 2006

  • But because it presents a national security vulnerability, however statistically small, the problem is taken seriously: OPM has a zero-tolerance policy toward employees or contractors who falsify, or "ghostwrite," interviews or record checks.

    Federal Times 2009

  • I ghostwrite which is another area of writing altogether.

    Bizzia Anne Wayman 2008

  • A writer can ghostwrite: articles books (fiction or non-fiction) memoirs blog posts

    Is Ghostwriting Ethical? » Blog Archive » Writer's Round-About - The Craft and Business of Fiction and Freelance Writing 2010

  • While I may well rue the day I turned down such a potentially lucrative collaboration, I'm afraid I will be unable to ghostwrite your great uncle's memoir about his adventures in turnip farming.

    Melanie Benjamin: Ms. Benjamin's Guide to Etiquette for the Polite Reader (and Author) Melanie Benjamin 2011

  • Regarding that plagiarism, can you tell my readers how you paid $400 a month to a known con man for him to ghostwrite the book that you then paid more money for a vanity press to publish, not realising that this scammer had royally shafted you by copying a whole chapter from another writer's work and simply changing the names (well, most of them)?

    Oh Dear Dog Hal Duncan 2010

  • Regarding that plagiarism, can you tell my readers how you paid $400 a month to a known con man for him to ghostwrite the book that you then paid more money for a vanity press to publish, not realising that this scammer had royally shafted you by copying a whole chapter from another writer's work and simply changing the names (well, most of them)?

    Archive 2010-01-01 Hal Duncan 2010

  • If you mean that any black man smarter than a clod of dirt must be a natural liberal, then I should like to nominate a clod of dirt to ghostwrite yourposts.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Be Careful. Trust No-One. Shut Up. 2010

  • She quit her job when the ethics complaints grew too loud; she sabotaged the GOP presidential nomination; she basically does nothing now except ghostwrite a book and give a canned lecture bashing the current administration!

    Clinton edges out Palin in 'Most Admired' poll 2009

  • While I may well rue the day I turned down such a potentially lucrative collaboration, I'm afraid I will be unable to ghostwrite your great uncle's memoir about his adventures in turnip farming.

    Melanie Benjamin: Ms. Benjamin's Guide to Etiquette for the Polite Reader (and Author) Melanie Benjamin 2011

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