: syndicated material supplied especially to weekly newspapers in matrix or plate form
2
a
: standardized text
b
: formulaic or hackneyed language
bureaucratic boilerplate
3
: tightly packed icy snow
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Boilerplate in Print
In the days before computers, small, local 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 more often filler than hard news, the word acquired negative connotations and gained another sense widely used today, such as "hackneyed or unoriginal writing."
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebWith Latifah and Bridges at the wheel much of this could have been played for laughs, upending a boilerplate scenario in a clever, Jordan Peele kind of way while mocking all the southern bigotry. Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Sep. 2022 After keeping the press corps and the public waiting for almost 40 minutes, Garland delivered a three-and-a-half-minute speech laden with sanctimonious boilerplate and then headed for the exit without taking questions. John Yoo, National Review, 13 Aug. 2022 And while these kinds of targets can sometimes feel like boilerplate, Houston Port commissioners also made a point of talking about the importance of environmental justice in response to the tumultuous summer of 2020. University Of Houston Energy Fellows, Forbes, 18 July 2022 Kevin McCarthy stood at the head of the table to give his boilerplate toast. Matt Sullivan, Rolling Stone, 2 July 2022 This may seem just like boilerplate language designed to protect the company from any liability, but some of the Ziff Davis businesses' competitors have stronger privacy policies. Thomas Brewster, Forbes, 29 June 2022 Investors are also starting to apply ESG principles to boilerplate issues on the annual-general-meeting ballot, from electing directors to executive salaries—more tightly linking the ES to the G in ESG—Cook says. Rachel Layne, Fortune, 6 June 2022 There are places where Hustle veers into cliché — some of the boilerplate pep-talk dialogue, a miraculous last chance timed right after a disheartened airport farewell. David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 June 2022 Indeed, as early as 1933, the famed movie house appeared in other media as a boilerplate for how a premiere should, and often does, look like. Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 18 May 2022 See More