editorial we

Meanings

1. Synonym of plural of modesty (“speaking of oneself as if multiple people, intending to seem modest”).
2. The first-person plural pronoun used by an editor or other spokesperson when speaking with the authority of their publication, profession, organization, or company.
3. The practice, common in mathematical and scientific literature, of referring to a generic third person by we (instead of the more common one or the informal you), or of implying that the writer and the reader, or all of humanity, are united as collaborators in thinking the sequence of thoughts that the narrative describes.