cut-and-paste

American  

[kuht-n-peyst] / ˈkʌt nˈpeɪst /

adjective

1. assembled or produced from various existing bits and pieces.

   The book purports to be a history but is just a cut-and-paste job of old essays and newspaper clippings.

---

cut and paste British  

noun

1. a technique used in word processing by which a section of text can be moved within a document

---

cut and paste Idioms  

1. Describing a patched-up job or trivial work. For example, The revision was easy, just cut and paste, or The new assistant had expected some training, but all she got was cut and paste. This term alludes to simple artwork done by small children—cutting out pictures and gluing them to paper. [Mid-1900s]

---

Example Sentences

Featuring a picture of Queen Elizabeth over the British flag, with her eyes and mouth covered by cut-and-paste lettering advertising the song and the band, the image is among one of rock’s most famous designs.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 9, 2023

In some cases, the cheating is obvious, says Main, the writing professor, who has had students turn in assignments that were clearly cut-and-paste jobs.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 9, 2023

"They all pretty much cut-and-paste the same things," he said.

From BBC • Apr. 27, 2023

The awkward, halting sentences, inexplicably joined together, reminded me of first year English Composition, catching a student in obvious, cut-and-paste plagiarism.

From Salon • Feb. 25, 2023

Analysts noted they were largely cut-and-paste versions of European Union deals, but she reaped the publicity.

From New York Times • Sep. 5, 2022