staple

¹ American  

[stey-puhl] / ˈsteɪ pəl /

noun

1. a short piece of wire bent so as to bind together papers, sections of a book, or the like, by driving the ends through the sheets and clinching them on the other side.

2. a similar, often U -shaped piece of wire or metal with pointed ends for driving into a surface to hold a hasp, hook, pin, bolt, wire, or the like.

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verb (used with object)

stapled, stapling

1. to secure or fasten by a staple or staples.

   to staple three sheets together.

staple ² American  

[stey-puhl] / ˈsteɪ pəl /

noun

1. a principal raw material or commodity grown or manufactured in a locality.

2. a principal commodity in a mercantile field; goods in steady demand or of known or recognized quality.

3. a basic or necessary item of food.

   She bought flour, sugar, salt, and other staples.

4. a basic or principal item, thing, feature, element, or part.

   Cowboy dramas are a staple on television.

5. the fiber of wool, cotton, flax, rayon, etc., considered with reference to length and fineness.

6. Textiles. a standard length of textile fibers, representing the average of such fibers taken collectively, as short-staple or long-staple cotton.

7. History/Historical. a town or place appointed by royal authority as the seat of a body of merchants having the exclusive right of purchase of certain classes of goods for export.

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adjective

1. chief or prominent among the products exported or produced by a country or district; chiefly or largely dealt in or consumed.

2. basic, chief, or principal.

   staple industries.

3. principally used.

   staple subjects of conversation.

verb (used with object)

stapled, stapling

1. to sort or classify according to the staple or fiber, as wool.

staple ¹ British  

/ ˈsteɪpəl /

adjective

1. of prime importance; principal

   staple foods

2. (of a commodity) forming a predominant element in the product, consumption, or trade of a nation, region, etc

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noun

1. a staple commodity

2. a main constituent; integral part

3. a principal raw material produced or grown in a region

4. the fibre of wool, cotton, etc, graded as to length and fineness

5. (in medieval Europe) a town appointed to be the exclusive market for one or more major exports of the land

verb

1. (tr) to arrange or sort (wool, cotton, etc) according to length and fineness

staple ² British  

/ ˈsteɪpəl /

noun

1. a short length of thin wire bent into a square U-shape, used to fasten papers, cloth, etc

2. a short length of stiff wire formed into a U-shape with pointed ends, used for holding a hasp to a post, securing electric cables, etc

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verb

1. (tr) to secure (papers, wire, etc) with a staple or staples

Etymology

Origin of staple¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English stapel “support, stake, post,” Old English stapol “post, column”; cognate with Middle Dutch stapel “foundation,” German Stapel “pile,” Old Norse stǫpull “pillar”

Origin of staple²

First recorded in 1350–1400; late Middle English staple, stapel “official market where merchants have trading rights,” from Anglo-French staple, Old French estaple, from Medieval Latin stapula, staplus, from Middle Dutch stapel, stapol

Explanation

Bread. Milk. Gasoline. Xboxes. What do these all have in common? They're all a staple of most people's consumption — basic products for which there will always be a demand. Staple also has the broader more abstract sense of being anything that's popular or necessary. A staple of the political scene is partisan bickering; a staple of Broadway theater is the musical revival. And let's not forget another meaning — those handy little metal clasps that hold things together. Though most people wouldn't consider a staple a staple.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

staple stapled stapling

Fish and chips is a staple takeaway for families across the south, but how have rising fish and energy prices affected how much this classic meal costs?

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

Now, he is a staple of the facility’s weekly car collector club, which Silverado staff decided to start after learning about his legendary passion for classic cars.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

It was a hit from its first performance and remains a staple of the classical canon worldwide.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

And American working-class staple Waffle House is becoming a fast favorite for visitors to discover American delicacies like “biscuits and gravy” — a far cry from “biscuits” and “gravy” elsewhere.

From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026

“Chocolate mousse, which of course means ‘foam’ and not an antlered cousin of elk, has been a staple of French cuisine since the eighteenth century.”

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein

One problem was that her well-organized husband had stapled many invoices and other documents together.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026

A woman who works in the records office hands us three pages stapled together.

From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2025

In contrast, a running joke about the Donald obsessing about his hair has a fun, if gleefully nasty payoff in an episode involving Trump getting his head surgically stapled to impede his male pattern baldness.

From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2024

“Crypto dot com Arena? Staples Center is so stapled to my brain that I can’t call it anything else.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2024

Leo's excited now, flipping through the stapled pages.

From "Things Not Seen" by Andrew Clements

Iona is perched on a table by a windowsill, stapling albums to the ceiling as decor to liven up the record store she runs — not that the place needs much livening-up, considering Iona’s look.

From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2026

Through a technique known as peptide stapling, the research team modified the B-chain of relaxin-3, replacing blocks of amino acids within them with artificial ones that introduce 'chemical bridges' between them.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 20, 2024

Eventually, at Mario’s suggestion, they put out an issue on their own, borrowing money from another brother to print it, folding and stapling the copies themselves.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2022

More than a hundred Seattle educators gathered on Labor Day at Judkins Park, stapling and taping signs to wooden pickets in preparation for a potential strike.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 5, 2022

After all that designing, measuring, cutting, sewing, pinning, stapling, gluing, and Velcro-ing?

From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins

Related Words

• predominant