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When we say the origins of the word pastiche are totally tubular, we’re not just being saucy—we mean it. In Italian, pasticcio (more specifically pasticcio di maccheroni) refers to a decadent pie consisting of a sweet crust filled with meat, truffles, béchamel, and macaroni—that famously tube-shaped pasta. Given such a jumble of (albeit delicious) ingredients, it makes sense that pasticcio in Italian has also long carried such additional meanings as “a mess or confused affair” and “a confused or mixed piece of writing.” It is these meanings that influenced both the English word pasticcio, in use since the 18th century, and the French word pastiche, which English borrowed in the late 19th century and which is now much more common. Both refer to hodgepodges of all kinds, but are most often applied to creative works—literary, artistic, musical, architectural, etc.—that imitate earlier styles or that are made up of parts from other works. A pastiche, you might say, takes a little bit of this and a little bit of that, not unlike the English language itself.
Examples of pastiche in a Sentence
A.a. Dowd, Rolling Stone, 17 Apr. 2025
Gordon's pastiche hits every beat, from the foot-stomping rhythm to the clapping in unison and the dramatic vocal inflections.
—Lee Habeeb, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Apr. 2025
Finally, Pedro Pascal and Jay Ellis will vie for supremacy with Freaky Tales, an ’80s genre pastiche from Captain Marvel directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.
—Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 30 Mar. 2025
More Culture At the inaugural balls, the gowns worn by Melania and Ivanka Trump and Usha Vance were pastiches of bygone eras.
—Melissa Kirsch, New York Times, 25 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pastiche
Cite this Entry
“Pastiche.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pastiche. Accessed 2 May. 2025.
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