From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishword for wordword for worda) EXACTSAMEin exactly the same words The newspaper printed his speech more or less word for word. b) (also word by word)SAME if you translate a piece of writing word for word, you translate the meaning of each single word rather than the meaning of a whole phrase or sentence → word
Examples from the Corpus
word for word• He asked me to repeat word for word the instructions he'd just given me.• Many researchers are surprised and delighted at their ability to remember conversations almost word for word.• Sartain said she writes out a new speech word for word and then types it herself.• They can repeat each other's arguments word for word.• Tikhon knows the passage by heart and recites it word for word.• It appears that someone has copied your essay word for word.• Janice repeated word for word what Harold had told her.• The footnote gave a word for word translation of the quotation.• The newspaper printed his speech more or less word for word.• Benjamin borrowed a quill and a piece of parchment and copied the verse down, word for word.• He knew the inflections and the pauses, knew what she would say, word for word, before she spoke.• I needed to, for Jean-Claude remembered it word for word.• It is good practice to write your proposal word for word as if it were the final draft. 