boilerplate
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
11 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "boilerplate", 11-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "boilerplate" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "boilerplate" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
boilerplate is aEnglishnoun. It means: A sheet of copper or steel used in the construction of a boiler.
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Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | boilerplate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #52,189 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for boilerplate is 11 letters long, classified as anoun. Corpus data places it at rank #52,189 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for boilerplate in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From boiler + plate. First use appears c. 1793 in the periodical Star. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is boilerplate, spelled B-O-I-L-E-R-P-L-A-T-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A sheet of copper or steel used in the construction of a boiler.
- 2The rating plate or nameplate required to be affixed to a boiler by the Boiler Explosions Act (1882).
- 3A plate attached to industrial machinery, identifying information such as manufacturer, model number, serial number, and power requirements.
- 4Syndicated material.
- 5Standard text of a legal or official nature added to documents or labels.
- 6A standard piece of program code used routinely and added with a text editor or word processor.
- 7Formulaic or hackneyed language.
- 8Hard, icy snow which may be dangerous for skiing.
Etymology
From boiler + plate. First use appears c. 1793 in the periodical Star.
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #52,189 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter B in our English index: