carbon paper

noun

: a thin paper faced with a waxy pigmented coating so that when placed between two sheets of paper the pressure of writing or typing on the top sheet causes transfer of pigment to the bottom sheet

Examples of carbon paper in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This allowed the writer to transfer their work over to the thinner carbon paper. —USA TODAY, 5 July 2023

Thanks to his recreations, visitors like myself can make rubbings using carbon paper without damaging the original pieces of artwork. —Jennifer Nalewicki, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Mar. 2023

If your dentist does not have a T-Scan occlusal analysis system, he or she is limited to using articulating paper (a type of carbon paper) to adjust occlusion and bite interferences. —Dr. Tom A. Stamas, Discover Magazine, 22 Apr. 2021

Entering the former Emigrant Savings Bank on Chambers Street feels like slipping into the hoary past, and not just because some of us can barely remember cash, let alone savings passbooks and carbon paper. —Curbed, 14 Sep. 2022

Everything was on hard copy with carbon paper duplicates. —Stephanie Nolasco, Fox News, 19 June 2022

Handwritten information gathered by Chronicle editors was transcribed on manual typewriters, copies being made with carbon paper. —George Weigel, WSJ, 17 Mar. 2022

Charts were written by hand and duplicated with carbon paper. —James R. Hagerty, WSJ, 2 June 2021

The organizing tools were manual typewriters with carbon paper, index cards in shoeboxes and mimeograph machines. —Nadine Hack, Forbes, 21 Apr. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1855, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

carbon paper

noun

: a thin paper coated with a coloring matter and used for making copies of something written or typed