carve

[ kahrv ]

/ kɑrv /

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See synonyms for: carve / carved / carving / carver on Thesaurus.com

Definition of carve

verb (used with object), carved, carv·ing.

to cut (a solid material) so as to form something: to carve a piece of pine.

to form from a solid material by cutting: to carve a statue out of stone.

to cut into slices or pieces, as a roast of meat.

to decorate with designs or figures cut on the surface: The top of the box was beautifully carved with figures of lions and unicorns.

to cut (a design, figures, etc.) on a surface: Figures of lions and unicorns were carved on the top of the box.

to make or create for oneself (often followed by out): He carved out a career in business.

verb (used without object), carved, carv·ing.

to carve figures, designs, etc.

to cut meat.

QUIZ

SHALL WE PLAY A "SHALL" VS. "SHOULD" CHALLENGE?

Should you take this quiz on “shall” versus “should”? It should prove to be a quick challenge!

Question 1 of 6

Which form is used to state an obligation or duty someone has?

shall

should

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

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

OTHER WORDS FROM carve

carver, nounre·carve, verb, re·carved, re·carv·ing.sem·i·carved, adjectiveun·carved, adjective

un·der·carve, verb (used with object), un·der·carved, un·der·carv·ing.well-carved, adjective

Words nearby carve

Carúpano, Carus curve, Caruso, Caruso, Enrico, carvacrol, carve, carvel, carvel-built, carven, carve out, Carver

How to use carve in a sentence

Operating successfully in a competitive market, the website operators discovered tremendous growth opportunities for the business if a larger market share could be carved out.
SEO horror stories: Here’s what not to do|Kaspar Szymanski|August 24, 2020|Search Engine Land
India, Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria, and Indonesia are all deciding whether to try to carve out their own digital agendas or to act more as fence-sitters, playing China, the US, and the EU against one another.
Covid-19 and the geopolitics of American decline|Katie McLean|August 19, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Rivers can only carve out valleys if the water is running downhill.
Mars may not have been the warm, wet planet we thought it was|Neel Patel|August 7, 2020|MIT Technology Review
The Tchambuli tended to put men in the role of artists who spent their days carving wooden masks and dancing, while the women fished and prepared food.
Gender Is What You Make of It - Issue 88: Love & Sex|Charles King|August 5, 2020|Nautilus

Such attempts to use information flows, in theory or practice, to carve nature at its joints are “the beginning of sketching out ideas and concepts that could be potentially foundational for new areas of biology,” Hoyal Cuthill said.
What Is an Individual? Biology Seeks Clues in Information Theory.|Jordana Cepelewicz|July 16, 2020|Quanta Magazine
Al Qaeda has never managed to carve out a large chunk of real estate to call its own—in Afghanistan it was a guest of the Taliban.
ISIS’s Futile Quest to Go Legit|Jamie Dettmer|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Her new paradigm leads her to carve up shibboleths and heroes alike.
Naomi Klein’s ‘This Changes Everything’ Will Change Nothing|Michael Signer|November 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I sort of got lucky in that I was able to carve a niche for myself.
Juliette Lewis on Hollywood, Why the MSM Hates Scientology, and Masturbating to George Clooney|Marlow Stern|September 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In Brazil, there was a microcosmic slice of the kind of public role he is attempting to carve.
Prince Harry Should Be King: The Royal Family’s Ace Card|Tim Teeman|June 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Could it just be that prison itself conditions a sort of pavlovian reaction to carve chess pieces?
Reading Prison Novels In Prison|Daniel Genis|May 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
You could carve him to pieces without hearing a cheep, if he decided to keep his mouth shut.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
A pair of carvers, laid with my cover, tell me that I shall have to carve the ham which is here eaten with the chicken.
Friend Mac Donald|Max O'Rell
Houdon then returned to France and proceeded to carve a Carrara marble statue of his subject.
Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia|Dorothy M. Torpey
The painter cannot put sounds upon a canvas, nor can the sculptor carve from marble an odor or a taste.
English: Composition and Literature|W. F. (William Franklin) Webster
He was yet young, vigorous and ambitious, and with the help of heaven he would carve out his own fortune.
Adrift on the Pacific|Edward S. Ellis

British Dictionary definitions for carve

carve

/ (kɑːv) /

verb

(tr) to cut or chip in order to form somethingto carve wood

to decorate or form (something) by cutting or chippingto carve statues

to slice (meat) into piecesto carve a turkey

Word Origin for carve

Old English ceorfan; related to Old Frisian kerva, Middle High German kerben to notch

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

carve

Definition of carve

Origin of carve

OTHER WORDS FROM carve

Words nearby carve

Words related to carve

How to use carve in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for carve

Word Origin for carve