pastiche

[ pa-steesh, pah- ]

noun

1. a literary, musical, or artistic piece consisting wholly or chiefly of motifs or techniques borrowed from one or more sources.
2. an incongruous combination of materials, forms, motifs, etc., taken from different sources; hodgepodge.

pastiche

/ pæˈstiːʃ; pæˈstɪtʃəʊ /

noun

1. a work of art that mixes styles, materials, etc
2. a work of art that imitates the style of another artist or period

Word History and Origins

Origin of pastiche¹

1700–10; < French < Italian pasticcio pasticcio

Word History and Origins

Origin of pastiche¹

C19: French pastiche, Italian pasticcio, literally: piecrust (hence, something blended), from Late Latin pasta paste ¹

Example Sentences

Best of all are original songs that range from the devilishly catchy “Famous 5eva” to note-perfect Simon & Garfunkel pastiche “New York Lonely Boy.”

From Time

He correctly identified it as “a Victorian pastiche” worth just a few thousand dollars.

From Washington Post

Each new chapter pushes the pastiche forward roughly a decade in television history, and you feel that momentum.

From Time

He tentatively suggested that the text is a pastiche compiled by a modern forger with an elementary grasp of Coptic.

From The Daily Beast

And then he sort of collapsed it into a rise of fascism, and SS pastiche groups.

From The Daily Beast

Instead, we have irony, allusion, meta commentary, fragmentation, parody, and pastiche.

From The Daily Beast

I do not seek out the redundant, the pastiche, or the formulaic.

From The Daily Beast

The clothes, however, were a chaotic pastiche of fur and glitter assembled in inelegant ways.

From The Daily Beast

If it bear the distinct marks of being a Neo-platonic pastiche, we may reject it without hesitation.

From Project Gutenberg

To restore it is to annihilate the work of centuries, to recompose an ordinary pastiche with no clat.

From Project Gutenberg

They have rarely succeeded in getting very close to them without mere archaic pastiche.

From Project Gutenberg

It is an interesting study to divide the pastiche from the real.

From Project Gutenberg

This poem is written as a folk-story, in the style of the Byliny, and it in no way resembles a pastiche.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• collage
• compilation
• hodgepodge
• reproduction