Definition of PASTICHE

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It all began with macaroni. Our word pastiche is from French, but the French word was in turn borrowed from Italian, where the word is pasticcio. Pasticcio is what the Italians called a kind of "macaroni pie" (from the word pasta). English-speakers familiar with this multilayered dish had begun to apply the name to various sorts of potpourris or hodgepodges (musical, literary, or otherwise) by the 18th century. For over a hundred years English speakers were happy with pasticcio, until we discovered the French word pastiche sometime in the latter part of the 1800s. Although we still occasionally use pasticcio in its extended meaning, "pastiche" is now much more common.

Examples of pastiche in a Sentence

His earlier building designs were pastiches based on classical forms. With this work she goes beyond pastiche. The research paper was essentially a pastiche made up of passages from different sources. The house is decorated in a pastiche of Asian styles.

Recent Examples on the Web And for 45 years, theatrical joy was palpable among cast, crew and audience, all reveling amid this beloved pop culture pastiche dreamed up by the late and legendary Steve Silver, and produced for the last 25 years by his widow, Jo Schuman Silver. — Catherine Bigelow, SFChronicle.com, "San Francisco’s ‘Beach Blanket Babylon’ gets a heartfelt goodbye," 9 Jan. 2020 Yet, resisting lazy, regressive pastiche, Vuillard struggled within to the last. — Maxwell Carter, WSJ, "‘Venus Betrayed’ Review: The Intimist," 3 Jan. 2020 The original tunes, many of them heard in the movie, are co-written by Carney and Gary Clark (the former frontman of late '80s Scottish band Danny Wilson) in the style of the period, often dipping into affectionate pastiche. — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Sing Street': Theater Review," 17 Dec. 2019 To some extent, this frenzied pastiche makes sense in the context of a show premised on the collision of multiple universes. — Judy Berman, Time, "Netflix’s The Witcher Is the Latest Disaster in a Year of Terrible Post-Game of Thrones Fantasy TV," 20 Dec. 2019 The city should also move beyond the bland modernist pastiche represented by the Third District Police Headquarters and Communications Center, completed in 2015 at 4501 Chester Ave. — Steven Litt, cleveland, "Police HQ in Opportunity Corridor could make sense if city gets design, development right – Steven Litt," 8 Dec. 2019 Just enjoy this mightily entertaining pastiche of history and music, served up with good humor and plenty of sass. — Dominic P. Papatola, Twin Cities, "Theater review: “SIX” is history and music served up with good humor and plenty of sass," 4 Dec. 2019 Newer contributions were more pastiche-like, though not without skill — Daniel Slatkin’s catalogue of 21st-century movie-soundtrack cliches was wittily spot-on. — Matthew Guerrieri, Washington Post, "Leonard Slatkin gives himself a 75th birthday present: a reunion with the NSO," 6 Dec. 2019 Classic novels are algorithmically transformed into surreal pastiches; wiki articles and tweets are aggregated and arranged by sentiment, mashed-up in odd combinations. — Wired, "Text-Savvy AI Is Here to Write Fiction," 23 Nov. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pastiche.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.