Word.ws English Dictionary

as-told-to

as-told-to noun: an account of something told by one person and written by another, especially a journalist or ghostwriter.

Noun

as-told-to (plural as-told-tos)

  1. An account of something told by one person and written by another, especially a journalist or ghostwriter.
    • Independent developers began airing longstanding grievances, skeletons in the closet, and as-told-tos about Microsoft tactics over the years.1993, Stephen Manes, Paul Andrews, Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry and Made Himself the Richest Man in America, page 420
    • In their attempts to foreground the agency of the Native speaker, the disclaimers of white authorial interference traditionally opening 'as-told-tos' barely conceal, in fact often signal, an active editorial presence.2003, Commonwealth, volumes 26-27, page 102

Examples of as-told-to in a sentence

  • Many religious magazines, like Guideposts for Kids, use as-told-tos, and a selection of magazines from almost any market needs as-told-to pieces.2005, Michelle Ruberg, Writer's Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing, page 163:
  • Thanks largely to Straus's navy-era media connections, names such as Stalin and Eisenhower had begun to grace the young list—albeit largely in photo-heavy as-told-tos and diary excerpts.2013, Boris Kachka, Hothouse, page 58:

Forms of as-told-to

pluralas-told-tos

Origin of as-told-to

From a phrase often used to introduce such pieces, along the lines of "Alice's story, as told to Bob".

Questions about as-told-to

What does as-told-to mean?
As-told-to means an account of something told by one person and written by another, especially a journalist or ghostwriter.
How do you use as-told-to in a sentence?
Many religious magazines, like Guideposts for Kids, use as-told-tos, and a selection of magazines from almost any market needs as-told-to pieces.
What part of speech is as-told-to?
As-told-to is a noun.
What is the plural of as-told-to?
The plural of as-told-to is as-told-tos.

Words near as-told-to in the dictionary

  1. As-Nas
  2. as-salamu alaykum
  3. As-Seeb
  4. As-Sib
  5. As-Sirat
  6. as-told-to
  7. as-told-tos
  8. as-yet-unknown
  9. as-yet-unknowns
  10. As. Mos.
  11. AS/RS

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: as-told-to (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “as-told-to.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/as-told-to. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.