cardboard

[ kahrd-bawrd, -bohrd ]

noun

1. a thin, stiff pasteboard, used for signs, boxes, etc.

adjective

1. resembling cardboard, especially in flimsiness:

   an apartment with cardboard walls.

2. not fully lifelike; shallow; two-dimensional:

   a play with cardboard characters.

cardboard

/ ˈkɑːdˌbɔːd /

noun

1. 1. a thin stiff board made from paper pulp and used esp for making cartons
   2. ( as modifier )

      cardboard boxes

adjective

1. prenominal without substance

   a cardboard smile

   a cardboard general

Word History and Origins

Origin of cardboard¹

First recorded in 1840–50; card ¹ + board

Example Sentences

Breaking was still an activity that could be done by tossing a piece of cardboard on a sidewalk and letting the music take hold, but for many, it had graduated from the sidewalks to dance studios.

From Washington Post

The company said it plans to donate as many as 20,000 kits, which include a cardboard base, a 20-inch box fan and a 20-by-20-by-4 air filter.

From Washington Post

The stadium appeared to be full because of 30,000 cardboard cutouts.

From Washington Post

We are, in fact, not too old to join in coloring pictures, make up funny stories or helping turn cardboard boxes into secret forts.

From Washington Post

The pandemic was inescapable, represented in the stands with the cardboard cutout fans, and it was visualized in the halftime show, with the dancers’ plague doctor-esque masks.

From Washington Post

Host and guest pop and lock on cardboard—the only proper surface for breakdancing—and in no way did they have dancing doubles.

From The Daily Beast

A heavy trowel is used to retrieve a mass of your chosen kind of ice cream from its tub and put it in the cardboard container.

From The Daily Beast

From an old cardboard box, Li Wen drew a clear glass bottle filled with a dark brown liquid.

From The Daily Beast

Back at the Coop, food is presented on heavy cardboard plates.

From The Daily Beast

By the end of the day, six more bodies were found, each wrapped in clothing and blankets, each in its own cardboard box.

From The Daily Beast

He further proposes to use it in the form of a solid cardboard as a roofing material for light structures.

From Project Gutenberg

The application is made in a paper machine, the pulp being allowed to flow over the cardboard.

From Project Gutenberg

On the stall are baby dolls with bodies made of grey cardboard, smiling after the manner of idols, monstrous and serene as they.

From Project Gutenberg

In doing so, to his dismay, he upset a couple of old cardboard boxes filled with letters, and they fell with some clatter.

From Project Gutenberg

It is true that it might have lain under the setting of the frame, hidden beneath the protecting cardboard mat.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• labored
• monotonous
• plodding
• stilted
• stodgy
• stuffy