boilerplate

or boil·er plate

[ boi-ler-pleyt ]
See synonyms for: boilerplateboilerplates on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. plating of iron or steel for making the shells of boilers, covering the hulls of ships, etc.

  2. Journalism.

    • syndicated or ready-to-print copy, used especially by weekly newspapers.

    • trite, hackneyed writing.

  1. the detailed standard wording of a contract, warranty, etc.

  2. Informal. phrases or units of text used repeatedly, as in correspondence produced by a word-processing system.

  3. frozen, crusty, hard-packed snow, often with icy patches.

Origin of boilerplate

1
First recorded in 1855–60

Words Nearby boilerplate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use boilerplate in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for boilerplate

boilerplate

/ (ˈbɔɪləˌpleɪt) /


noun
  1. a form of mild-steel plate used in the production of boiler shells

  2. a copy made with the intention of making other copies from it

  1. a set of instructions incorporated in several places in a computer program or a standard form of words used repeatedly in drafting contracts, guarantees, etc

  2. a draft contract that can easily be modified to cover various types of transaction

verb
  1. to incorporate standard material automatically in a text

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012