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paste

B1
UK/peɪst/US/peɪst/

Neutral to informal; technical in computing/art contexts.

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Definition

Meaning

A soft, wet, adhesive substance; to stick something onto something else using such a substance.

Can refer to a range of soft, moist compositions (culinary, artistic, digital). In computing, it means to insert copied data.

Linguistics

Semantic Notes

The noun and verb are highly polysemous, spanning domestic, artistic, culinary, and digital domains. The computing sense is now extremely frequent.

Dialectal Variation

British vs American Usage

Differences

Spelling identical. Minor differences in typical collocates (e.g., 'tomato paste' slightly more common in AmE, 'tomato purée' in BrE, but both understood).

Connotations

Similar across varieties. The verb can imply a hasty or temporary action in informal contexts ("pasted a poster up").

Frequency

Computing sense ('copy and paste') is universally high-frequency. Culinary sense ('almond paste') common in both.

Vocabulary

Collocations

strong
copy and pastetomato pastetoothpastewallpaper pastepaste into
medium
almond pastepaste a linkpaste the imagepaste-upfish paste
weak
paste jewellerypaste boardpaste something togethercurry paste

Grammar

Valency Patterns

paste sth on/onto/to sthpaste sth in sthpaste sth togethercopy and paste sth from sth

Vocabulary

Synonyms

Strong

cementgumfixaffix

Neutral

adhesivegluespreadattachstick

Weak

pureeinsertimplant

Vocabulary

Antonyms

detachunstickremovedeletecut

Phrases

Idioms & Phrases

  • “copy-and-paste job (derogatory: unoriginal work)”
  • “paste-up (pre-digital layout)”

Usage

Context Usage

Business

"Paste the figures into the quarterly report."

Academic

"The methodology section was a mere copy-and-paste from prior studies."

Everyday

"Can you paste that poster on the notice board?"

Technical

"Use Ctrl+V to paste the selected layer."

Examples

By Part of Speech

noun

British English

  • You'll need a strong paste for this wallpaper.
  • He spread a fish paste on his cracker.

American English

  • Add a tablespoon of tomato paste to the sauce.
  • The necklace was made of inexpensive paste.

verb

British English

  • She pasted the cuttings into her scrapbook.
  • Just copy the URL and paste it into an email.

American English

  • He pasted the label onto the jar.
  • Paste the formula into all the highlighted cells.

adjective

British English

  • It's just a paste gem, not a real diamond.

American English

  • The costume jewellery featured paste diamonds.

Examples

By CEFR Level

A2
  • The children used paste to stick the shapes on paper.
  • My toothpaste is mint flavoured.
B1
  • Make a paste from flour and water before adding it to the soup.
  • I'll paste the poster on the door.
B2
  • The article was poorly researched, essentially a copy-and-paste job from Wikipedia.
  • She carefully pasted the fragile fragments of the letter back together.
C1
  • The activist's face was pasted across every tabloid front page the following day.
  • The software allows you to paste values without formatting.

Learning

Memory Aids

Mnemonic

Think of TOOTHPASTE – a soft substance you press ('paste') onto your brush.

Conceptual Metaphor

INFORMATION IS A SUBSTANCE (that can be cut, copied, and pasted).

Watch out

Common Pitfalls

Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)

  • Не переводить как 'паста' (макароны) в кулинарном контексте – это 'pasta'.
  • "Paste" в кулинарии – это густая однородная масса (томатная паста), а не форма макарон.
  • В digital контексте 'paste' – 'вставить', а не 'вклеить'.

Common Mistakes

  • Incorrect: *I pasted the photo in the wall. Correct: I pasted the photo on/to the wall.
  • Incorrect: *This is a pasta of garlic and herbs. (Confusion with 'pasta'). Correct: This is a paste of garlic and herbs.

Practice

Quiz

Fill in the gap
First, it into your document.
Multiple Choice

In which context does 'paste' NOT typically refer to an adhesive substance?

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

They are similar. 'Paste' often implies a thicker, sometimes water-based adhesive (e.g., wallpaper paste), while 'glue' is a more general term. In computing, only 'paste' is used.

A paste is usually thicker, more concentrated, and sometimes includes non-vegetable ingredients (e.g., curry paste with spices). A puree is smoother and often made from cooked fruits/vegetables only.

It's a metaphor from the pre-digital era when editors would literally cut and paste paper clippings onto layouts. The terms 'cut', 'copy', and 'paste' were adopted by early user interfaces.

Yes, but mainly in the phrase 'paste jewellery' (or 'paste gems'), meaning fake gems made from glass.

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A2 · 48 words · Everyday technology and digital devices.

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