stencil
Americannoun
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a device for applying a pattern, design, words, etc., to a surface, consisting of a thin sheet of cardboard, metal, or other material from which figures or letters have been cut out, a coloring substance, ink, etc., being rubbed, brushed, or pressed over the sheet, passing through the perforations and onto the surface.
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the letters, designs, etc., produced on a surface by this method.
verb (used with object)
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to mark or paint (a surface) by means of a stencil.
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to produce (letters, figures, designs, etc.) by means of a stencil.
noun
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a device for applying a design, characters, etc, to a surface, consisting of a thin sheet of plastic, metal, cardboard, etc in which the design or characters have been cut so that ink or paint can be applied through the incisions onto the surface
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a decoration, design, or characters produced in this way
verb
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to mark (a surface) with a stencil
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to produce (characters or a design) with a stencil
Other Word Forms
- stenciler noun
- stenciller noun
Etymology
Origin of stencil
1375–1425; earlier stanesile, late Middle English stansele to ornament with diverse colors or spangles < Middle French estanceler, derivative of estencele a spark, ornamental spangle < Vulgar Latin *stincilla, metathetic variant of Latin scintilla scintilla
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A light source with a very tight wavelength, somewhere between ultraviolet light and X-rays, shines through a chip-shaped stencil and onto the silicon wafer.
In the middle, light bounces off something like a stencil patterned with the chip’s billions of transistors.
A stencilled outline of a hand found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is the world's oldest known cave painting, researchers say.
From BBC
When we talked the other day, Percival wore a T-shirt with a cartoon image of a bull, with the word “PEN’’ stenciled on it.
From Los Angeles Times
It took him a full day to broadcast the seed into the furrows, after which he folded away the burlap, barely noticing a stencilled word indicating where it had come from: Odessa.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
