carpenter
noun
a person who builds or repairs wooden structures, as houses, scaffolds, or shelving.
Showing results for carpenter.
Search instead for
carpintero.
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"The Sword in the Stone" and "Was There a Real King Arthur?"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"Core Curriculum: Introductory Craft Skills," Vocabulary from Module Three
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
“It’s like if you’re a carpenter and someone’s like, ‘Can you make this table?’
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 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 live practically like fireflies here -- in the dark all the time. You never know when you'll have power; it's our sad reality," Julian Gonzalez, a 72-year-old carpenter, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
"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
Mr. Taphouse, the carpenter, must still be there.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
At the height of her fame and success in 1981, Carpenter weighed about 80 pounds.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026
Fans, their parents and eating-disorder recovery advocates were scared, making comparisons to Karen Carpenter, the 70s musical icon who died of anorexia nervosa at 32.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
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
He went behind the curtain around Mr. Savo’s bed, and Mrs. Carpenter followed.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
"We have mechanics, we have carpenters, we have real good problem solvers," Leverkus said.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 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
Von Ungern-Sternberg was working for the Freiburg Chamber of Skilled Crafts in southwest Germany, a trade body that represents skilled workers, from bricklayers and carpenters, to butchers and bakers, and the companies that employ them.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
Living near them were other enslaved people with special skills, such as masons and carpenters like Sambo Andersen.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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
Rough stairs carpentered out of two by tens leading down into the darkness.
From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
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
As the pictures show, hunting, fishing, farming, brickmaking, butchering, carpentering, dancing, drinking, feasting and mourning were essentially the same then as now.
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.
