to make by carpentry.
to construct (a plot, scene, article, or the like) in a mechanical or unoriginal fashion.
John Alden, 1876–1951, U.S. composer.
(Malcolm) Scott, 1925–2013, U.S. astronaut and oceanographer.
(intr) to do the work of a carpenter
(tr) to make or fit together by or as if by carpentry
1275–1325; Middle English < Anglo-French < Late Latin carpentārius wainwright, equivalent to Latin carpent ( um ) two-wheeled carriage (< Celtic; compare Old Irish carpad chariot) + -ārius -ary; see -er 2
A carpenter is a person who makes things out of wood. You could hire a carpenter to build you a dining room table and two long benches. Carpenters specialize in woodworking, making furniture and buildings from wood and repairing various wooden things. If you wanted beautiful handmade wooden cabinets in your kitchen, you'd hire a carpenter. The word has been around since the 14th century, but it's been a common last name for even longer. It comes from the Late Latin carpentarius, "wagon maker," with its root word carpentum, "wagon."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"It's a very money-driven society for young adults. When they see a carpenter doing what they like and making a lot of money fast, they see that as aspirational."
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2026
“I’ve dropped it off three-story buildings and it just bounces,” said Niall Buryk, a Toronto carpenter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
“We don’t have a lot of savings, all our money is in our home,” said Gabe Cotton, a union carpenter in the Festus area.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
Sprague co-hosted “Run My Renovation” for the DIY Network and was a carpenter on “Trading Spaces.”
From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2026
“To make sure no gentleman decides to grab you up as his servant, I have apprenticed you to John Laydon. You will become a carpenter in your own right.”
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
Answering a written question from deputy Lee Carpenter, senator Alan McLean said the removal of GST from essential grocery items in shops would mostly benefit the richest islanders because they spent more.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Carpenter & Zuckerman is taking on a growing role in environmental litigation in the region.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
Swift's celebrity friend group – Selena Gomez, Suki Waterhouse, the Haim sisters, Cara Delevingne, Jack Antonoff, Sabrina Carpenter among them - reflects diverse tastes.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
From classic dramas like ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ and ‘Nashville’ to a John Carpenter sci-fi nightmare, these movies articulate a shifting national mood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Said Isaac the Carpenter, “Join our number, brothers.”
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
AI has also made its way into the software used by woodworkers and carpenters.
From BBC ● May 11, 2026
The construction and installation of offshore wind turbines requires the expertise of skilled electrical workers, pipe fitters, welders, pile drivers, iron workers, machinists and carpenters.
From Salon ● May 9, 2026
In 1831-33, New York ship carpenters won the first major American victory in reducing work hours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025
The production also hired more than 100 New Zealand workers for every U.S. crew member they brought in, employing local electricians, construction workers, caterers and carpenters, Landau wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2025
Two carpenters volunteered, as did a teacher, a mechanic, a coach builder, and a playing-card maker.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
Mines, of course, are highly constructed, carpentered environments—exactly the kind of environment that should produce a large illusion, according to the theory.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2025
Two farmers down the street asked to get married there last fall; guests ate at tables Sarver carpentered and danced late into the night beneath the barn’s vaulted ceiling and wooden beams.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 25, 2016
It’s open at the bottom, and I saw several people direct puzzled glances at its roughly carpentered interior.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 15, 2015
The latter are big quasi-octagonal panels that might have been carpentered for some hieratic medieval interior.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 6, 2011
Suddenly the Fair Folk halted at one of the cottages, and from a neatly carpentered pen Taran heard a loud “Hwoinch!”
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
He was a dab hand at carpentering, doctoring, shipbuilding and grape growing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2022
His upper body is hefty, his hands coarse from years of carpentering.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2020
In their spare time they studied engineering and carpentering.
From Time Magazine Archive
When a battalion marches into some remote, Ultima Thulish town and encamps for a few days or months, the soldiers practice shoe making, tinsmithing, weaving, carpentering and all manner of simple crafts.
From Time Magazine Archive
Here, in the evenings, they studied blacksmithing, carpentering, and other necessary arts from books which they had brought out of the farmhouse.
From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
