carve
Americanverb (used with object)
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carves,
present (3rd person singular)
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carved,
past participle, past
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carving
present participle
-
to cut (a solid material) so as to form something.
to carve a piece of pine.
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to form from a solid material by cutting.
to carve a statue out of stone.
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to cut into slices or pieces, as a roast of meat.
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to decorate with designs or figures cut on the surface.
The top of the box was beautifully carved with figures of lions and unicorns.
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to cut (a design, figures, etc.) on a surface.
Figures of lions and unicorns were carved on the top of the box.
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to make or create for oneself (often followed byout ).
He carved out a career in business.
verb (used without object)
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carves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
carved,
past participle, past
-
carving
present participle
-
to carve figures, designs, etc.
-
to cut meat.
verb
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(tr) to cut or chip in order to form something
to carve wood
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to decorate or form (something) by cutting or chipping
to carve statues
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to slice (meat) into pieces
to carve a turkey
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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carvernoun
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recarveverb
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undercarveverb (used with object)
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semicarvedadjective
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uncarvedadjective
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well-carvedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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carvesimple
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carvessimple
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have carvedperfect
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has carvedperfect
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am carvingprogressive
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are carvingprogressive
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is carvingprogressive
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have been carvingperfect progressive
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has been carvingperfect progressive
Past
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carvedsimple
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had carvedperfect
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was carvingprogressive
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were carvingprogressive
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had been carvingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of carve
before 1000; Middle English kerven, Old English ceorfan to cut; cognate with Middle Low German kerven, German kerben, Greek gráphein to mark, write; see graph
Explanation
When you cut a design into a piece of wood or marble, you carve it. Headstone engravers carve people's names and the dates of their births and deaths into gravestones. You might carve your initials into the tree in your backyard, or carve a walking stick out of a large branch. Some artists work by carving shapes from clay or granite, and a chef learns to carve, or precisely cut up, large cuts of meat and poultry. The Old English root word is ceorfan, "to cut, slay, carve, or engrave."
Vocabulary lists containing carve
On a Pedestal: Marble-ous Words for Sculpture
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"The Secret Water"
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"Indian Summer Sun" and "Almost Evenly Divided"
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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:
The three main Allied victors of World War II met at Yalta in 1945 to carve new European borders after the Nazis’ defeat.
From Slate ● Oct. 19, 2026
That will give James and the rest of his teammates a chance to carve out roles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
As drugmakers seek to carve out a piece of the massive weight-loss-drug market, more are studying whether adding an amylin drug to a GLP-1 could increase weight loss with fewer side effects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Andrew Jackson once threw a party at the White House, and 10,000 Washington residents showed up to help themselves to whatever they could carve from a 1,000-pound block of cheddar cheese.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
The twentieth century put enormous pressure on classical composers to carve out a new role for themselves.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Roberto Carlos carefully carves a skull adorned with an elegant hat into a wad of deep purple paper 50 sheets deep.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
A real plan carves out a protected reserve for that upfront, so the late-life risk is handled and the earlier spending is guilt-free.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026
The light carves the pattern into material on the wafer called photoresist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
The one you tap into carves your entire experience, colors your world so completely that it’s hard to see any other colors.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025
Mr. Smeath carves the ham, Mrs. Smeath adds the vegetables, the plates get passed around.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
At first, “China Institute Gallery at 60, 1966-2026: Selections From Three Millennia of Chinese Art” appears to be a straightforward survey in just under 90 objects, covering Neolithic carved jades through contemporary ink paintings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
Microsoft has carved out a niche as a model-agnostic software company, meaning its software offerings work with offerings from various AI players.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
We should marvel at what our forefathers carved out of this countryside.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Speakers at the event included local, state and federal officials, many of whom described an eagle who inspired conservation and carved out an enduring legacy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
I took in the decorations: carved wooden lanterns and heavy painted scrolls hanging from the arbor terrace, screens with images of birds of paradise and other floral designs placed around the tables.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
At its height, 10 million workers were on the streets before fresh elections led to the revolt fizzling out, but not before carving an indelible memory in French social history.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
Before carving out a career in sports broadcasting and voice acting, Horton was just a teenaged high school basketball reject.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at Occidental College, puts it more bluntly: "LASIK is just a fancy way of doing traditional surgery. It's still carving tissue -- it's just carving with a laser."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
In Kanazawa, workers dressed in full-body overalls haul large blocks of ice across the factory floor, before starting on the delicate work of carving perfect spheres, cubes and rectangular blocks with cut corners.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
As I raced to find Bright, Togbe’s words came back to me about trusting my instincts, finding the words, carving out a space in the universe even if it only amounted to a minute.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
