paint-by-numbers
adjective
formulaic; showing no original thought or creativity
RELATED CONTENT
By the Numbers: The Language of Political Parties TodayYou can learn a lot about politicians from the words they use. Recently Five Thirty Eight had political speech writer Jeff Nussbaum construct and annotate “the Perfect Stump Speech” for imaginary Democratic and Republican candidates. Even without the expertise of a seasoned political speechwriter, it’s possible to gain insight on the words and rhetoric of a political party through computational analysis. To get a better …
Nearby words
- paint oneself into a corner,
- paint pot,
- paint roller,
- paint stripper,
- paint the town red,
- paintball,
- paintball game,
- paintbox,
- paintbrush,
- painted
Word Origin for paint-by-numbers
C20: from children's painting books in which the colours to be used are identified by numbers on the design to be painted
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
Examples from the Web for paint-by-numbers
Many Republican wags, such as David Frum and Erick Erickson, are already onto the Boehner paint-by-numbers game of the “Pledge.”