paste
Americannoun
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pastes
plural
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a mixture of flour and water, often with starch or the like, used for causing paper or other material to adhere to something.
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any soft, smooth, and plastic material or preparation.
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dough, especially when prepared with shortening, as for making pie crust and other pastry.
puff paste.
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any of various semisoft fruit confections of pliable consistency.
almond paste; guava paste.
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a preparation of fish, tomatoes, or other food reduced to a smooth, soft mass, as for a relish or for seasoning.
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a mixture of clay, water, etc., for making pottery or porcelain.
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Jewelry.
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a brilliant, heavy glass, as strass, used for making artificial gems.
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an artificial gem of this material.
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Slang. a hard smack, blow, or punch, especially on the face.
verb (used with object)
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pastes,
present (3rd person singular)
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pasted,
past participle, past
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pasting
present participle
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to fasten or stick with paste or the like.
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to cover with something applied by means of paste.
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Slang. to hit (a person) hard, especially on the face.
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Computers. to insert (copied text, images, etc.) into a file.
verb (used without object)
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pastes,
present (3rd person singular)
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pasted,
past participle, past
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pasting
present participle
noun
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a mixture or material of a soft or malleable consistency, such as toothpaste
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an adhesive made from water and flour or starch, used esp for joining pieces of paper
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a preparation of food, such as meat, that has been powdered to a creamy mass, for spreading on bread, crackers, etc
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any of various sweet doughy confections
almond paste
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dough, esp when prepared with shortening, as for making pastry
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Also called: strass. a hard shiny glass used for making imitation gems
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an imitation gem made of this glass
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the combined ingredients of porcelain See also hard paste soft paste
verb
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to attach by or as if by using paste
he pasted posters onto the wall
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(usually foll by with) to cover (a surface) with paper, usually attached with an adhesive
he pasted the wall with posters
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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semipastenoun
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prepasteverb (used with object)
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repasteverb (used with object)
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unpasteverb (used with object)
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pastesimple
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pastessimple
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have pastedperfect
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has pastedperfect
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am pastingprogressive
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are pastingprogressive
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is pastingprogressive
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have been pastingperfect progressive
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has been pastingperfect progressive
Past
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pastedsimple
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had pastedperfect
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was pastingprogressive
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were pastingprogressive
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had been pastingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of paste
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French < Late Latin pasta dough < Greek pastá barley porridge, noun use of neuter plural of pastós, verbid of pássein to strew, sprinkle; a pasta was originally a kind of gruel sprinkled with salt; paste ( defs. 9, 12 ) probably by association with baste 3
Explanation
Paste is like glue. If you paste something, you stick it onto something else. You might copy and paste info from one document to another on your computer, or literally paste posters all over town. Just don’t use tomato paste. Some foods take the form of a paste, like cake frosting or pâté. There's also the kind of paste you can use for gluing paper — like wallpaper paste, for example. Costume jewelry, which resembles gemstones but is relatively inexpensive, is made from another, harder kind of paste. To paste something is to stick it together, to patch it, or to cover it with paper. The Late Latin root is pasta, or "dough."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It means Dilworth at the Football Supporters Association is cautious about clubs simply seeking to "copy and paste from the men's game".
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
During our Zoom, with the background carefully faded behind her wavy blond bob, she promises that she doesn’t just copy and paste her subjects and settings from what sells.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
Rice noodles are tossed in a glossy dressing of tomato paste, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, Sriracha, rice wine vinegar and just enough Kewpie mayonnaise to give everything a silky sheen.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
You can either copy and paste that directly into a chat box or read it out over the phone to a representative.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
There's a glob of paste poking out from Max's cap.
From "The Sky at Our Feet" by Nadia Hashimi
"It's our most traditional dish here in Pachuca. If you don't have much time, there's always a pastes store around the corner," Hernandez says.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
And Thomas just copies and pastes that stuff right into his dissent.
From Slate ● May 15, 2026
The development of new pastes advanced the formation and integration of sculpture; and “paste on paste” permitted the use of incised bas-reliefs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2025
Leftover curry pastes, chipotles in adobo, gochujang-honey glazes, romesco, tamarind chutney—all of them freeze beautifully.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2025
She pastes a kind expression on her face.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
They held up flags, piñatas and tall signs pasted with images of Dr. Simi and “Dragonball Z” hero Goku — used to mark one’s place in the sea of people.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
On Monday at the Nottingham Inquiry, mental health nurse Busayo Ajewole admitted her notes were at times lacking information, copied and pasted and fundamentally wrong.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2026
She stepped into the bathroom, rubbed some adhesive across her face, pasted on the fake beard, and colored her hair with gray paint she had bought at a costume shop.
From Slate ● Nov. 15, 2025
To assist confused loyalists, the grocer has pasted a small sign by the entryway, adorned with the company logo and, in Whole Foods’s signature deep-green text, a reminder to passersby: “We’re Still Here!”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025
He’s wearing a short-sleeved polo shirt, as if he’s standing in a Georgia peach grove, and I’ve just cut and pasted him randomly into winter.
From "Landscape with Invisible Hand" by M.T. Anderson
Doctors, nurses and patients were pasting reflective sheets onto the windows to keep out the sun.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Workers at the Pyroshine factory were now busy pasting wolf-themed packaging onto boxes to be shipped to the United States.
From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026
While pasting the new “Virgencita” poster, she notices an older one of hers to the left — a portrait of transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson — hanging half ripped.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026
In Rome they romped to a 4-0 lead on the first morning by delivering an alternate shot pasting that the US never recovered from.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2025
Back at the camp, the girls rushed around, pasting sequins on their faces, sewing palm fronds into gowns like plumage, making last- minute touch-ups.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
