A codicil is literally a "little codex," a little bit of writing on a small piece of writing material, used to add to or change something about a larger piece of writing. A codicil to a will can change the terms of the original will completely, so it generally requires witnesses just like the will itself, though in some states a handwritten codicil may not. In mystery novels, such changes have been known to cause murders; in real life, codicils aren't usually quite that exciting.
a codicil to the treaty was necessary to clarify certain provisos that had proved to be ambiguous
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Catalin Moreno Voss, Ello’s co-founder and chief technology officer, had heard a lot of interesting stories and codicils from job applicants in his career.—Stacy St Clair, The Mercury News, 2 Aug. 2024 This seemed to me to breach some fundamental codicil of the documentary filmmaker code: to show some version of the truth in their work, to endeavor for verisimilitude whenever and wherever possible.—Bill Desowitz, IndieWire, 5 July 2024 And there are numerous codicils to the julep making process.—Frederick N. Rasmussen, Baltimore Sun, 30 Apr. 2024 The 2016 codicil had a startling effect.—Dallas News, 22 Jan. 2023 Sign a codicil or a new will with all the required formalities.—Dallas News, 18 Sep. 2022 Besides a codicil in Ray Davis’ will, the price of signing Corey Seager and Marcus Semien was a second- and third-round choice, and despite that penalty the Rangers still finagled a first-round value in the fourth.—Dallas News, 20 July 2022 The codicil — which is to be found in the same reality that gave rise to the concept of a casual restaurant — is not to disturb other diners.—Washington Post, 17 Nov. 2021 In 1990 Donald secretly enlisted a lawyer to draft a codicil to the will of his father, Fred Sr.—Anne Diebel, The New York Review of Books, 24 Sep. 2020
Word History
Etymology
Middle English codicill, from Anglo-French *codicille, from Latin codicillus, diminutive of codic-, codex
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