boilerplate

📘 Definition & Meaning

Standardized, reusable pieces of text, code, or design that can be used repeatedly without significant changes. Originally, it meant a thick sheet of metal used to build boilers.

🇮🇳 Translations in Indian Languages

✍️ Example Uses in Sentences

• "The legal document was filled with boilerplate language that is common in almost every contract."
• "Instead of writing the code from scratch, the student used a boilerplate template to start the website project."
• "The news agency sent out a boilerplate description of the event to all its local branches."

🌱 Word Etymology & Origin

Originating in the 1890s, it referred to the heavy metal plates used for steam boilers. Later, printing companies sent pre-set metal plates of news stories to small papers, which were also called boilerplate.

💡 Memory Hook & Fun Fact

Think of boilerplate as the 'Copy-Paste' of the 19th century! Just like you reuse a template for a school project, old newspapers reused metal plates to save time and money.