clip art

American  

noun

1. drawings or illustrations available, as in a book, on a CD-ROM, or in an online gallery, for easy insertion into other material.

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clip art British  

noun

1. a large collection of simple drawings stored in a computer from which items can be selected for incorporation into documents

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Etymology

Origin of clip art

First recorded in 1955–60; so called because the original clip art was clipped or cut out from a printed page, usually in books of illustrations specifically designed for this purpose.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clip art

Wiener, the author, said it was his “strong speculation” that the artwork was made using computer clip art.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2024

The animated GIFs that first gained popularity and exposed the wider public to the technology included the Under Construction signs on early websites and moving clip art.

From Slate ● Mar. 29, 2022

But Tomorrow added a visual wink with characters that resembled stylish Cold War clip art — the kind of unflappable talking heads who could make wild science fiction sound coolly plausible.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 22, 2020

Heck, if you look for clip art online, most of it is that exact shape.

From The Verge ● Dec. 10, 2019

There were sheets of unlined paper and old magazines Dad had given me, an uncapped purple glue stick, and a folder so fat with clip art that papers spilled out of the opening.

From "The First Rule of Punk" by Celia C. Pérez