# paste

/ˈpeɪst/ (US) · /pˈeɪst/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/paste
Updated: 2026-06-20

## Senses

### 1. thick mixture

noun · CEFR A2

a soft, thick, and wet mixture of substances.

For teachers: a soft, moist, and viscous mixture, typically used in food preparation or as an adhesive.

- Mix the flour and water together until they form a smooth paste.
- The chef pounded the garlic and herbs into a fine paste before rubbing it over the surface of the meat.

### 2. artificial gem

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical

a hard type of glass used to make fake jewellery.

For teachers: a heavy, lead-based glass used to manufacture imitation gemstones.

- The necklace looked expensive, but it was actually made of paste.
- The antique brooch was set with high-quality paste stones that mimicked the brilliance of real diamonds to the untrained eye.

### 3. computing

verb · CEFR A2

to put text or a picture that you have copied into a new place.

For teachers: to insert data from a clipboard or buffer into a document or application.

- You can copy the address from the email and paste it into the map.
- After selecting the relevant paragraphs from the source document, she used a keyboard shortcut to paste them into her report.

### 4. to stick

verb · CEFR B1

to stick something to a surface using glue or a similar mixture.

For teachers: to cause to adhere to a surface by applying an adhesive substance.

- The children spent the afternoon pasting pictures into their scrapbooks.
- The workers spent the night pasting political posters onto every available brick wall in the city centre.

### 5. to hit or defeat

verb · CEFR C1 · Slang · British English

to hit someone hard or to beat a team by a lot of points.

For teachers: to strike someone forcefully or to defeat an opponent by a significant margin.

- Our team got pasted in the final game, losing six to zero.
- The local newspapers reported that the champion had been thoroughly pasted in the third round, much to the shock of the spectators.

## Examples

- Apply the paste evenly to the back of the wallpaper.
- The recipe calls for two tablespoons of tomato paste to thicken the sauce and add color.
- Archaeologists discovered traces of a primitive adhesive paste made from birch bark resin, suggesting that early humans possessed sophisticated knowledge of material properties.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.