stencil
/ˈstɛnsɪl/US/ˈstɛnsəl/
stencil noun: a thin sheet, either perforated or using some other technique, with which a pattern may be produced upon a surface; a utensil that contains a perforated sheet.
Noun
stencil (plural stencils)
- A thin sheet, either perforated or using some other technique, with which a pattern may be produced upon a surface; a utensil that contains a perforated sheet.
- You do not necessarily need to have a stencil brush to paint over a stencil.2015, Margaret Peot, Stencil Craft: Techniques for Fashion, Art and Home, Penguin, →ISBN
- A pattern produced using such a utensil.
- In 2013 a damaged stencil of a rat and an image of a girl hugging a bomb were painted over on the walls of a Fitzroy church by the building owner’s father-in-law, who tried to help out by painting the building while house sitting. He did not know the significance of the stencils.2016 July 11, Calla Wahlquist, “Banksy stencils destroyed by construction workers in Melbourne”, in The Guardian
- A two-ply master sheet for use with a mimeograph.
Verb
stencil (third-person singular simple present stencils, present participle (US) stenciling or (UK) stencilling, simple past and past participle (US) stenciled or (UK) stencilled)
- To print with a stencil.
- Stencilled letters were used for words and phrases, as well as for captions for some of his stencil “prints,” print being used in the sense of a multicolor woodcut.2015, William Addison Dwiggins, edited by Dorothy Abbe, Stencilled Ornament and Illustration, Chronicle Books, →ISBN, page 53
stencil meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Kannada and Tagalog
stencil in Tamil
- வரை அச்சு, உருவரைதகடு, கருத்தகடு
stencil in Bengali
- ছাঁচ, নকশা করার পাত
stencil in Kannada
- ಕೆತ್ತುತಗಡು, ಕೊರೆಯಚ್ಚು
stencil in Tagalog
- thin sheet; utensil
- panlimwad
More languagesFewer languages
- stencil in Arabic
- رَوْسَم rawsam
- stencil in Malay
- stensil
- stencil in Indonesian
- stensil
- stencil in Vietnamese
- giấy xtăngxin, khuôn tô, mẫu tô
Examples of stencil in a sentence
- On the street, someone had stenciled graffiti that read, “Basta de travesticidios,” or “Enough transgendercide.”
- I usually wet sand after I've finished any artwork and have removed the tape or stencil material.
- Because when I saw him again, the Bird had two skull-and-crossbones stenciled on his X-ray camera.
Forms of stencil
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | stencils |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | stencils |
| present participle US | stenciling |
| present participle UK | stencilling |
| past participle US | stenciled |
| past US | stenciled |
| past participle UK | stencilled |
| past UK | stencilled |
Origin of stencil
Likely a nominalization of Middle English stencellen (“to garnish with bright hues”), borrowed from Middle French estinceller (“to glisten”), from Old French estenceler (“to spark”), from Old French estencele (“spark”), from Vulgar Latin *stincilla, from metathesis of Latin scintilla (“spark”). The verb is from the noun.
Words formed from stencil
Phrases with stencil
Words that rhyme with stencil
Questions about stencil
- What does stencil mean?
- Stencil means a thin sheet, either perforated or using some other technique, with which a pattern may be produced upon a surface; a utensil that contains a perforated sheet.
- What is stencil in Tamil?
- Stencil in Tamil is வரை அச்சு, உருவரைதகடு, கருத்தகடு. See Stencil meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is stencil?
- Stencil can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce stencil?
- Stencil is pronounced /ˈstɛnsɪl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of stencil?
- The plural of stencil is stencils.
Words near stencil in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stencil (page history and authors); stencil (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stencil (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stencil (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-stencil.wav.
Cite this entry: “stencil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stencil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.