From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtemplatetem‧plate /ˈtempleɪt, -plət/ noun [countable] 1 TEMTBa thin sheet of plastic or metal in a special shape or pattern, used to help cut other materials in a similar shape2 technicalTD a computer document containing some basic information that you use as a model for writing other documents, such as business letters, envelopes etc3 written something that is used as a model for another thingtemplate for Her childhood became a template for how she brought up her own children.
Examples from the Corpus
template• The wall thus provides a template for the pattern of the migrating cells.• We used a template and inserted or copied text wherever variable information was needed.• Now we will create the form-letter template that we will later copy variable information into from another document.• In our hands, these precipitations result in progressively diminished yields of potential template cDNA for amplification.• And as an aid to drilling, make a simple template from a length of batten.• The template can be anything from a simple list of stories to a traditional newspaper layout with headlines of differing sizes.Origin template (1600-1700) French templet, from temple “instrument in a loom for keeping the cloth stretched”, probably from Latin templum; → TEMPLE 