Meaning of concrete in English

Table of contents
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Verb
    1. Definitions
  3. Classifying Adjective
    1. Definitions
  4. Noun
    1. Definitions
  5. Qualitative Adjective
    1. Etymology
    2. Definitions

  1. Pronunciation

    /ˈkɑnˌkrit/

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  1. Verb

    concrete

    Definitions

    1. cover with cement

    Examples

    • « concrete the walls »
  2. 2. form into a solid mass

    Examples

    • « coalesce »

    Derived terms

  3. Classifying Adjective

    concrete

    Definitions

    1. formed by the coalescence of particles

    Synonyms

  4. Noun

    concrete

    Definitions

    1. a strong hard building material composed of sand and gravel and cement and water

  5. Qualitative Adjective

    concrete

    Etymology

    late Middle English (in the sense ‘solidified’): from French concret or Latin concretus, past participle of concrescere‘grow together’. Early use was also as a grammatical term designating a quality belonging to a substance (usually expressed by an adjective such as white in white paper) as opposed to the quality itself (expressed by an abstract noun such as whiteness); later concrete came to be used to refer to nouns embodying attributes (e.g. fool, hero), as opposed to the attributes themselves (e.g. foolishness, heroism), and this is the basis of the modern use as the opposite of ‘abstract’. The noun sense ‘building material’ dates from the mid 19th century

    Definitions

    1. capable of being perceived by the senses

    Examples

    • « not abstract or imaginary »
    • « concrete objects such as trees »

    Synonyms

    Antonyms

Famous quotes

  • « There is no reason to design buildings that are more basic and rectilinear, because with concrete you can cover almost any space. »
    Oscar Niemeyer
  • « Money is human happiness in the abstract he, then, who is no longer capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete devotes himself utterly to money. »
    Arthur Schopenhauer
  • « So, for example, if a child is labeled as having a learning disability, it has very concrete consequences for the kinds of services and potentially accommodations that child will get. »
    Robert Sternberg
  • « Well, probably I was fed up with concrete poetry. There was a lot of bad concrete poetry and besides, it was confused with visual poetry which was completely different. »
    Ian Hamilton Finlay
  • « The irony of the Supreme Court hearing on these cases last week and of the outright hostility that the Court has displayed against religion in recent years is that above the head of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is a concrete display of the Ten Commandments. »
    Cliff Stearns

See also

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