carpenter
noun
a person who builds or repairs wooden structures, as houses, scaffolds, or shelving.
carpenter
1 American
[kahr-puhn-ter]
/ ˈkɑr pən tər /
noun
-
carpenters
plural
verb (used without object)
-
carpenters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
carpentered,
past participle, past
-
carpentering
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
carpenters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
carpentered,
past participle, past
-
carpentering
present participle
-
to make by carpentry.
-
to construct (a plot, scene, article, or the like) in a mechanical or unoriginal fashion.
Carpenter
2
American
[kahr-puhn-ter]
/ ˈkɑr pən tər /
noun
-
John Alden, 1876–1951, U.S. composer.
-
(Malcolm) Scott, 1925–2013, U.S. astronaut and oceanographer.
carpenter
1
British
/ ˈkɑːpɪntə /
noun
verb
-
(intr) to do the work of a carpenter
-
(tr) to make or fit together by or as if by carpentry
Carpenter
2
British
/ ˈkɑːpɪntə /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
carpentersimple
-
carpenterssimple
-
have carpenteredperfect
-
has carpenteredperfect
-
am carpenteringprogressive
-
are carpenteringprogressive
-
is carpenteringprogressive
-
have been carpenteringperfect progressive
-
has been carpenteringperfect progressive
Past
-
carpenteredsimple
-
had carpenteredperfect
-
was carpenteringprogressive
-
were carpenteringprogressive
-
had been carpenteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of carpenter
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
Explanation
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."
Vocabulary lists containing carpenter
Name That Job: Occupational Last Names
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"The Sword in the Stone" and "Was There a Real King Arthur?"
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"Core Curriculum: Introductory Craft Skills," Vocabulary from Module Three
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Master carpenter Joseph W., who did not want to give his last name, declined to speak about endorsements, focusing instead on the challenges of workers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
The team revived original furnishings and interior and exterior walls, while constructing a new ADA-compliant Victorian carpenter gothic cottage with stylish board and batten siding, modeled after a 19th-century Sears kit house.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
"We've been here since day one, digging holes all the way down to the ground floor," the 50-year-old carpenter told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
His father, Noel Ernest Hord, was a carpenter as well as a pastor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
The craftsmen were the master quarryman, the master stone cutter, the master sculptor, the master mortar maker, the master mason, the master carpenter, the master blacksmith, the master roofer, and the master glass maker.
From "Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction" by David Macaulay
The tone is more John Hughes than John Carpenter, as you’ll work together with a number of actors to uncover a paranormal mystery that’s consuming a suburban town.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Madonna's performance - her first VMAs show since her infamous onstage kiss with Britney Spears in 2003 - included a duet with Carpenter and an appearance from British Brat star Charli XCX.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
While accepting the award for "Best Collaboration" after their performance, Madonna and Carpenter joked about how the material girl direct messaged via social media to get them into the studio for the collaboration.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
Mr. Cregger is a successor to Mr. Carpenter also, but with more comedic finesse and more cleverness, plus a facility for sinuous plotting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
He went behind the curtain around Mr. Savo’s bed, and Mrs. Carpenter followed.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
The carpenters council has put $3 million of its own money into Estamos Con Nithya so far.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 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
That’s led to a 30% drop in employment from a late-2022 peak for actors, carpenters, costumers and the hundreds of other showbiz professions, according to Labor Department data.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026
He said the program isn’t about Hollywood’s stars; it’s about the jobs that productions create, including roles for set designers, carpenters and lighting crews.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2026
In the company of carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and painters at lunch, I would often sit quietly, observant.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
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
For Christmas, he’d given her a table he had carpentered himself, and Karen was going to insist on returning it.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 30, 2019
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
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
A short, stocky man, widowed several years ago, Walters retired from carpentering but never thought of quitting music.
From Time Magazine Archive
Kennedy said he had kept his hand in at carpentering, but feared no one would hire him; he had a brother and a widowed mother to support.
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.
