write down

If you do this, you put information on paper or a screen so you can remember it.

• Write down your name.
• I wrote the phone number down in my notebook.
• Have you written down everything we need?

How to use it: write something down (Write your address down here.); write down what… (Write down what you need to buy.)

Similar words: note down, record, jot down

Common phrases: write something down, write down notes, write down names

If a business does this, it lowers the value of something it owns in its financial records.

• The company wrote down its assets.
• We must write this stock down because it is damaged.
• The bank has written down the value of several investments.

How to use it: write something down to something (The company wrote the property down to half its previous value.); write something down by something (They wrote the inventory down by twenty percent.)

Similar words: devalue

Opposites: write up

Common phrases: write down assets, write something down, write down inventory

If you do this, you form words while you are in a lower place, such as a basement.

• I usually write down here.
• She wrote down in the cellar because it was quiet.
• Can you write down there with so little light?

Common phrases: write down here, write down below, write down there

If you do this, you write too simply, as though your readers cannot understand more difficult ideas.

• Do not write down to children.
• The author wrote the story down for a younger audience.
• Readers can tell when you are writing down to them.

How to use it: write down to someone (Good children’s authors do not write down to their readers.)

Similar words: write simplistically

Common phrases: write down to someone, write down a story

If you do this, you describe someone’s faults or bad actions in writing to criticize them.

• The critic wrote him down as a fraud.
• Opponents wrote down the minister’s failings in a bitter pamphlet.
• She used her column to write down those responsible.

How to use it: write someone down (The pamphlet tried to write the governor down as dishonest.)

Similar words: denounce, condemn

Common phrases: write someone down, write down an opponent