1. a short passage taken from a longer work such as a book, speech, or piece of music

1. to select and take out a passage from a longer work

Examples

• The teacher read an excerpt from the novel to the class.
• This excerpt from the speech shows the president’s main argument.
• The magazine published excerpts from her upcoming memoir.
• He excerpted several paragraphs for his research paper.
• The documentary included excerpts from historical speeches.
• She carefully excerpted the most relevant sections from the report.
• The book review contained a brief excerpt from the first chapter.