carbon copy

noun

1
: a copy made by carbon paper
2
: duplicate
is a carbon copy of his father

Examples of carbon copy in a Sentence

I'll need a carbon copy of that receipt. She's a carbon copy of her mother.
Recent Examples on the Web Tomorrow’s nearly a carbon copy of today with bright sunshine and light winds (around 5 mph). Jason Samenow, Washington Post, 19 Feb. 2024 Suddenly, the 243 passengers of Flight 006 have to reckon with confronting carbon copies of themselves, who have been leading parallel lives for the past three months. Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2024 When twins aren’t being regarded as carbon copies, they are slotted (or slot themselves) into opposing roles, which de Bres uses as an entry point for a chapter on the psychology, the temptations, and the costs of binary thinking. Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2024 Pace's Brother Day—the 18th in the cycle—is most definitely not a mere carbon copy of Cleon the First. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 25 July 2023 But the Chargers had practically a carbon copy of that drive. Ryan Morik, Fox News, 22 Oct. 2023 An angry man typing out memos about an invisible world government might make a few mimeographs or carbon copies, but the chance that any ended up in a library, catalogued and preserved, is slight. Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2023 Lee Eisenberg, who developed the story for television, hopes devotees of the book will be pleased with how the show is faithful to the spirit of its source material without being a carbon copy of it. Yvonne Villarreal, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2023 The new High Street will not be a carbon copy of the old, but the old restaurant will be mined for inspiration. Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 22 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'carbon copy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1876, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of carbon copy was in 1876

Dictionary Entries Near carbon copy

Cite this Entry

“Carbon copy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carbon%20copy. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

carbon copy

noun
1
: a copy made with carbon paper
2

More from Merriam-Webster on carbon copy

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