pastiche
Americannoun
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a literary, musical, or artistic piece consisting wholly or chiefly of motifs or techniques borrowed from one or more sources.
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an incongruous combination of materials, forms, motifs, etc., taken from different sources; hodgepodge.
noun
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a work of art that mixes styles, materials, etc
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a work of art that imitates the style of another artist or period
Etymology
Origin of pastiche
1700–10; < French < Italian pasticcio pasticcio
Explanation
The next time you see a movie that you think is a cheap imitation of an older, better movie, you can sound like a film critic by dismissing the picture as a thoughtless pastiche. A pastiche is an artwork that copies the style of another work or that combines various, distinct styles together into one work. A pastiche can also be a musical medley, or the piecing together of various songs. Pastiche comes from the Italian word pasticcio, which can refer to a pie containing a mix of ingredients, such as meat and pasta.
Vocabulary lists containing pastiche
Poetry: Literary Devices
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Blink
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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.
“Wow. Well, I’ll take that every time,” Dulli responded, sharing that the inspiration for that song was Edwyn Collins’ 1994 modern soul pastiche, “A Girl Like You.”
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
He was the runner-up in 2022, armed with the cunning plan of writing a good song – the 70s glam rock pastiche Space Man – and being good at performing it.
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
Yale law professor Akhil Amar wrote in an amicus brief that the administration’s historical evidence amounts to “an artful pastiche of misleading, misinterpreted, and/or atypical shards.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
He opted for pseudo-macho pastiche, with a distinct Reddit-ish tang: Operation Epic Fury might as well translate to Operation Epic Bacon.
From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2026
She decided we should go for a pastiche of rocker looks, rather than trying to copy any one artist.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
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.
