patchwork
English
editEtymology
editNoun
editpatchwork (countable and uncountable, plural patchworks)
- A work, such as a blanket, composed of many different colors and shapes, sewn together to make an interesting whole.
- (figurative) Any kind of creation that makes use of many different aspects to create one whole piece.
- Bill took all of his poetry and put it together in a folder. It made up a patchwork of his life.
- 2022 November 17, Paul Salopek, “A ‘Slow Storytelling’ Writing and Photography Workshop Boosts Conservation in China”, in National Geographic[1]:
- Everything about China is super-sized: The five new parks, which in some cases stitched together an older patchwork of conservation zones, sprawl across more than 88,800 square miles of territory—a protected area more than 25 times the size of Yellowstone National Park in the United States.
- (derogatory) A state of regulations whose constituents have an opaque scope of application because of their questionable delimitation with regard to each other.
- 2011, Bryce Clayton Newell, “Rethinking Reasonable Expectations of Privacy in Online Social Networks”, in Richmond Journal of Law and Technology, volume 17, number 4, page 5:
- Present United States privacy law – despite being made up of a patchwork federal and state constitutional, statutory, and common law – is predominantly based on the ideals of individual control, autonomy, and liberty from governmental intrusion, despite the fact that its inspiration was an idea grounded on the importance of protecting human dignity and an “inviolate personality.”
Related terms
editTranslations
edita work composed of many different colors and shapes
|
any kind of creation that utilizes many different aspects to create one, whole piece
Verb
editpatchwork (third-person singular simple present patchworks, present participle patchworking, simple past and past participle patchworked)
- To create a patchwork from pieces of fabric.
- To assemble from a variety of sources; to cobble together.
References
edit- “patchwork”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
French
editEtymology
editBorrowed from English patchwork.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editpatchwork m (plural patchworks)
Further reading
edit- “patchwork”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
editEtymology
editUnadapted borrowing from English patchwork.
Noun
editpatchwork m (invariable)
- patchwork (all senses)
Spanish
editEtymology
editUnadapted borrowing from English patchwork.
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /ˈpat͡ʃwoɾk/ [ˈpa.t͡ʃwoɾk]
- Rhymes: -atʃwoɾk
- IPA(key): /ˈpat͡ʃuɚk/ [ˈpa.t͡ʃuɚk]
- Rhymes: -atʃuɚk
- IPA(key): /ˈbæt͡ʃuɚk/ [ˈbæt͡ʃuɚk]
- Rhymes: -uɚk
Noun
editpatchwork m (plural patchworks)
Usage notes
editAccording to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
Categories:
- English compound terms
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English derogatory terms
- English verbs
- French terms borrowed from English
- French terms derived from English
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French terms spelled with W
- French terms spelled with K
- French masculine nouns
- Italian terms borrowed from English
- Italian unadapted borrowings from English
- Italian terms derived from English
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian indeclinable nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian terms spelled with W
- Italian terms spelled with K
- Italian masculine nouns
- Spanish terms borrowed from English
- Spanish unadapted borrowings from English
- Spanish terms derived from English
- Spanish 2-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/atʃwoɾk
- Rhymes:Spanish/atʃwoɾk/2 syllables
- Spanish 3-syllable words
- Rhymes:Spanish/atʃuɚk
- Rhymes:Spanish/atʃuɚk/2 syllables
- Rhymes:Spanish/uɚk
- Rhymes:Spanish/uɚk/1 syllable
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish terms spelled with W
- Spanish terms spelled with K
- Spanish masculine nouns