rendition

Rendition refers to the act of presenting something in a particular form or interpretation. The term comes from the Old French rendre, meaning to give back or render. In everyday usage, rendition can denote a performance or interpretation of a work, such as a musical performance, an artistic interpretation, or a translation or version of a text.

In arts and music, a rendition is a specific performance of a piece by a musician, singer, or ensemble, often distinguished from the original composition by the artist’s style or arrangement. It can also describe a particular interpretation of a lyric, melody, or script in literature, theatre, or film, where the source material is reimagined rather than copied verbatim.

In law and politics, rendition has a more contentious sense. Extraordinary rendition refers to the transfer of a suspect from one jurisdiction to another for interrogation, bypassing standard extradition procedures and raising human rights and due process concerns. The general term extradition describes formal legal transfer under treaty obligations with due process.

In technology, rendering is the process of generating an image, scene, or layout from data. In computing, rendering engines produce web pages from HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, while in computer graphics, 3D rendering converts models into visual representations using shading and lighting calculations. Rendition thus spans arts, law, and technology, each with distinct meanings rooted in the idea of giving form to content.