Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for photocopy. Search instead for photo copy.
Synonyms

photocopy

American  
[foh-tuh-kop-ee] / ˈfoʊ təˌkɒp i /

noun

  • photocopies
    plural
  1. a photographic reproduction of a document, print, or the like.


verb (used with object)

  • photocopies,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • photocopied,
    past participle,  past
  • photocopying
    present participle
  1. to reproduce (a document, print, or the like) photographically.

photocopy British  
/ ˈfəʊtəʊˌkɒpɪ /

noun

  1. a photographic reproduction of written, printed, or graphic work See also microcopy

"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

verb

  1. to reproduce (written, printed, or graphic work) on photographic material

"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

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of photocopy

First recorded in 1920–25; photo- + copy

Vocabulary lists containing photocopy

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:

They have to rely on patients to recount their medical histories or wait hours or even days for another clinician to send a DVD, a fax — or a photocopy.

From MarketWatch May 4, 2026

Down the sidewalk, I mailed packages for our boys at the pack-and-ship shop, and stopped to photocopy teaching materials for my weekly state-prison volunteering gig.

From The Wall Street Journal Mar. 6, 2026

The 17th Mickey is a flesh photocopy of Mickey Barnes, a good-for-nothing dope desperate to flee Earth after his macaron business flops and its main investor threatens him with a chain saw.

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 7, 2025

Jean shoves a photocopy of an article from the Cook Islands News into my hand.

From BBC Dec. 9, 2024

It was a photocopy of a handwritten note: IOU one Roman praetor.

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan

She includes photocopies of typewritten manuscript pages, heavy with margin notes and marked-through lines.

From The Wall Street Journal May 29, 2026

A simple way to imagine this is like making two photocopies of a document but accidentally placing both copies into the same folder instead of separating them.

From Science Daily May 25, 2026

"They can't even afford to make photocopies, never mind plane tickets and lodgings," said lawyer Valeria Carreras, who represents 34 families of victims.

From Barron's Mar. 3, 2026

A few days later, a heavy bundle of A4 papers arrived: handwritten notes, photocopies of old documents, press clippings from the Kent Messenger newspaper.

From BBC May 18, 2024

A treasure trove of materials on cryptography, the library included both rare books and modern photocopies.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

The bank photocopied the check so I read it.

From MarketWatch Apr. 27, 2026

The tendrils of the tightly strung material connect, both physically and metaphorically, the wartime experiences documented in the photocopied pages scattered about, but they also bring to mind out-of-control cell growth and cancerous disease.

From The Wall Street Journal Nov. 28, 2025

He had photocopied documents and returned the originals.

From Los Angeles Times Sep. 14, 2024

It included on its cover a photocopied image of the late Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, who is worshipped by most Rastafari.

From Seattle Times Mar. 13, 2024

I even photocopied your schedule, which I’m sure I still have here somewhere.

From "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher

After the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago was found guilty in 1984 of illegally photocopying the music of a religious composer, the U.S.

From Seattle Times Apr. 26, 2024

In 2021, the SPS started photocopying mail being sent to inmates to try and close down this route.

From BBC Jan. 17, 2024

A big chunk of that archive is composed of the so-called “Coffin series” — Xerox books begun in 1966, in which Smith experimented with photocopying photographs, ordinary household objects and fragments of her own body.

From Los Angeles Times Nov. 9, 2023

Shops that provide photocopying services have been told to deny service to petitioners, who tend to gather in Beijing when it holds important meetings.

From Reuters Oct. 11, 2022

In Kinko’s, Wednesday set about photocopying the deposit slips from the bank.

From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 14,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training