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Jul 18, 2007

This week's theme
Words from the writing of Judge Bruce M. Selya

This week's words
aposematic
pleochroic
pastiche
haboob
resipiscent

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pastiche

noun:
1. An artistic piece, for example a literary, musical, or dramatic work, that imitates works of other artists.
2. A hodgepodge of incongruous parts taken from various sources.

[From French, from Italian pasticcio (pastiche), from Vulgar Latin pasticium (pasty), from Late Latin pasta (dough).]

"The majority's reading ... unduly emphasizes the concurring opinion by two justices, and it engrafts onto the plurality and concurring opinions selected statements from the dissent. Then, to hold this pastiche together, it overrules ... well-established Massachusetts law."
Excerpt from concurring opinion (Selya, J.) in Redgrave v. Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc., 1988.

See more usage examples of pastiche in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

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