carpet
Americannoun
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carpets
plural
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a heavy fabric, commonly of wool or nylon, for covering floors.
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a covering of this material.
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any relatively soft surface or covering like a carpet.
They walked on the carpet of grass.
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any of a number of airborne electronic devices for jamming radar.
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a system of such devices.
verb (used with object)
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carpets,
present (3rd person singular)
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carpeted,
past participle, past
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carpeting
present participle
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to cover or furnish with or as with a carpet.
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Chiefly British. to reprimand.
idioms
noun
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a heavy fabric for covering floors
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( as modifier )
a carpet sale
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-
a covering like a carpet
a carpet of leaves
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informal
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before authority to be reproved for misconduct or error
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under consideration
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verb
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to cover with or as if with a carpet
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informal to reprimand
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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recarpetverb (used with object)
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carpetlessadjective
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carpetlikeadjective
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uncarpetedadjective
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well-carpetedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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carpetsimple
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carpetssimple
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have carpetedperfect
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has carpetedperfect
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am carpetingprogressive
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are carpetingprogressive
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is carpetingprogressive
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have been carpetingperfect progressive
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has been carpetingperfect progressive
Past
-
carpetedsimple
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had carpetedperfect
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was carpetingprogressive
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were carpetingprogressive
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had been carpetingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of carpet
1300–50; Middle English carpete cloth covering for a table, floor, bed, etc. < Middle French carpite or Medieval Latin carpīta < Italian carpita woolen bedspread < Vulgar Latin *carpīta, past participle of carpīre, for Latin carpere to pluck, card (wool)
Explanation
A carpet is a thick, woven floor covering. Most carpets cover the whole floor in a room, as opposed to a rug, which only covers a small section. Carpets are made from polyester fibers, or wool, or nylon — most often, these soft materials are loops or strings that form the carpet's "pile," and are attached to a solid backing. A carpet can be very densely woven and flat, or it can be tufted and thick. To carpet means to cover something as if with a carpet: "Then the snow carpets the ground, and winter is here."
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:
“They can kind of go out and carpet bomb and know that they might not be as efficient, but they’re gonna hit the mark. We don’t have that luxury.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
She also donned red carpet maternity wear at The Odyssey's US premiere in New York on 14 July.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
For no other reason than to have her on that red carpet, to maybe get a little time on the telecast and the chaos that that just promises.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Critics say Bangkok should not be rolling out the red carpet for Min Aung Hlaing, who has been sanctioned by several Western nations and is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
The blade lands on the carpet without a sound.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
She panics on red carpets and says interviews make her nervous, although she certainly doesn’t seem it today.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Now it is migrating from the runways and red carpets to everyday shoppers—and it’s not exactly going smoothly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
The Backrooms began with a single unsettling image posted anonymously online: a claustrophobic warren of tawdrily yellow, windowless rooms with aged carpets and harsh overhead fluorescent lights.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
And on red carpets and film festivals, you can find movie and industry leaders feeding their four favorite films into a microphone emblazoned with Letterboxd’s orange, green and blue dot logo.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
The carpets of wintergreen began to show red berries, and Mr. Chris said they’d not stop growing all winter long.
From "Miracles on Maple Hill" by Virginia Sorensen
Swaths of the region are carpeted in grasses that each year grow and then die, creating what Acuña described as a patchwork of layers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026
That the world is made of green fields carpeted with sweet grass, where nothing bad ever happens.
From Salon ● May 17, 2026
Trump shared photos of the suspected shooter, shirtless and in handcuffs facedown on a carpeted floor, in what appears to be the Hilton lobby.
From Barron's ● Apr. 26, 2026
Remember when America Online CDs carpeted America and “You’ve got mail” felt like the future?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 22, 2025
There was hawthorn both pink and white, and primroses and buttercups carpeted the fields with yellow.
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
The seats themselves are crappy and hard; the upholstery might as well be outdoor carpeting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
Luckily, she found both at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach, which her team covered in red carpeting to stay faithful to the Sherman Oaks mall’s original design.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Upon entering the abode, guests are greeted with green carpeting that leads to a white staircase.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 12, 2026
As a child in the late 1970s and early ’80s, I fondly recall grand movie houses with chandeliers, carpeting and upholstered seats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 2025
There was wall- to-wall carpeting in federal gold, except in the kitchen and bathroom areas and over the iron manhole cover in the center of the floor.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
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.
