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Decision vs Writ - What's the difference?

decision | writ |

As nouns the difference between decision and writ

is that decision is decision while writ is (legal) a written order, issued by a court, ordering someone to do (or stop doing) something.

As a verb writ is

(dated|nonstandard).

decision

English

Noun

  • A choice or judgement.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author= Karen McVeigh
  • , volume=189, issue=2, page=10, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= US rules human genes can't be patented , passage=The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.}}
  • (uncountable) Firmness of conviction.
  • (chiefly combat sports) A result arrived at by the judges when there is no clear winner at the end of the contest.
  • (baseball) A win or a loss awarded to a pitcher.
  • Usage notes

    * (choice or judgment) Most often, to decide something is to make a decision; however, other possibilities exist as well. Many verbs used with destination or conclusion, such as reach, (term), and (term) can also be used with (term); these serve to emphasize that the decision is the result of deliberation. Finally, some varieties of English prefer to take a decision rather than make one. * See for uses and meaning of decision collocated with these words. * Adjectives often applied to "decision": important, difficult, big, tough, bad, informed, easy, personal, smart, poor, good, quick, major, strategic, wise, serious, hard, stupid, hasty, responsible, complex, prudent, deliberate, significant, collective, delayed, challenging, careful, foolish, small, rash, thoughtful, slow, clever, forced, uninformed.

    Derived terms

    * decisioning * decision making * decision tree * decision problem * decision procedure * decision theory * indecision

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (boxing) To defeat an opponent by a decision of the judges, rather than by a knockout
  • writ

    English

    (wikipedia writ)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (legal) A written order, issued by a court, ordering someone to do (or stop doing) something.
  • authority, power to enforce compliance
  • * '>citation
  • We can't let them take advantage of the fact that there are so many areas of the world where no one's writ runs.
  • (obsolete) that which is written; writing
  • * Spenser
  • Then to his hands that writ he did betake, / Which he disclosing read, thus as the paper spake.
  • * Knolles
  • Babylon, so much spoken of in Holy Writ

    Derived terms

    * drop the writ * Holy Writ * writ of habeas corpus

    References

    * Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (Webster)

    Verb

    (head)
  • (dated, nonstandard)
  • (Dryden)
  • * (Omar Khayyam) (in translation)
  • The moving finger writes, and having writ , not all your piety or wit can lure it back to cancel half a line

    Usage notes

    * The form writ'' survives in standard dialects only in the phrase ''writ large , though it remains common in some dialects (e.g. Scouse).