paperweight

American  

[pey-per-weyt] / ˈpeɪ pərˌweɪt /

noun

• paperweights
  plural

1. a small, heavy object of glass, metal, etc., placed on papers to keep them from scattering.

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paperweight British  

/ ˈpeɪpəˌweɪt /

noun

1. a small heavy object placed on loose papers to prevent them from scattering

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• paperweights
  plural

Etymology

Origin of paperweight

First recorded in 1855–60; paper + weight

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

paperweight paperweights

My tongue felt like someone had snuck a paperweight inside it.

From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2025

So Friday morning, coach Sean McVay arrived at the team’s Woodland Hills facility with a message inscribed in black letters on a paperweight:

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2025

When only one person has a phone, it’s a paperweight.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 3, 2022

The collection is full of seemingly mundane objects: a paperweight, empty notebooks and lamps.

From New York Times ● Nov. 1, 2022

Wind whistling up through the jagged gash in the floor kept the myriad bits of paper circulating like alabaster particles in a paperweight and contributed to a sensation of lacquered, waterlogged unreality.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

When a promotion affords her a workspace, she cultivates a fixation with paperweights, which help keep her daydreaming grounded.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026

This gets to the core of the matter: AI is driving runaway demand for processors like those Nvidia makes, but they would be paperweights without memory, so demand there is going bananas, too.

From Barron's ● Jan. 2, 2026

Bags of rice and barley from past quality inspections act as paperweights for stacks of files and manuals.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2024

But the jailbroken tablets are essentially expensive paperweights without a Wi-Fi mobile hot spot to connect to the internet.

From Slate ● Dec. 14, 2023

I’ve had several unpleasant dreams where I’m encased in one of Gran’s glass paperweights or trapped beneath the bell jar that houses her arrangement of dried flowers and dead butterflies.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin