boilerplate
noun
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Boilerplate in Print
In the days before computers, small newspapers around the U.S. relied heavily on feature stories, editorials, and other printed material supplied by large publishing syndicates. The syndicates delivered that copy on metal plates with the type already in place so the local papers wouldn't have to set it. Printers apparently dubbed those syndicated plates "boiler plates" because of their resemblance to the plating used in making steam boilers. Soon boilerplate came to refer to the printed material on the plates as well as to the plates themselves. Because boilerplate stories were often more filler—material used to fill extra space in a column or page of a newspaper to increase its size—than important or informative news, the word acquired negative connotations and gained the "standardized or formulaic language" sense widely used today.
Examples of boilerplate in a Sentence
Christine Pilkington, Forbes, 17 Jan. 2025
Current and former officials throughout USAID and the State Department said the breakneck pace, lack of input from key officials, mistaken cancellations and boilerplate language in Wednesday’s termination notices undermine Marocco’s claims of a deliberative process.
—Anna Maria Barry-Jester, ProPublica, 1 Mar. 2025
The Justice Department recently declined to endorse the legality of the deal, pinning assurances that the offer was legal on the OPM — a departure from other agencies that adopted boilerplate language on their own behalf stating the deal was valid.
—Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, 5 Feb. 2025
The book resorts to boilerplate vignettes that do not go far beyond what is already in the public record.
—Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for boilerplate
Cite this Entry
“Boilerplate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boilerplate. Accessed 4 Apr. 2025.
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boilerplate
noun
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