ceramic

American  

[suh-ram-ik] / səˈræm ɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to products made from clay and similar materials, as pottery and brick, or to their manufacture.

   ceramic art.

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noun

1. ceramic material.

ceramic British  

/ sɪˈræmɪk /

noun

1. a hard brittle material made by firing clay and similar substances

2. an object made from such a material

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or made from a ceramic

   this vase is ceramic

2. of or relating to ceramics

   ceramic arts and crafts

ceramic Scientific  

/ sə-răm′ĭk /

1. Any of various hard, brittle, heat- and corrosion-resistant materials made typically of metallic elements combined with oxygen or with carbon, nitrogen, or sulfur. Most ceramics are crystalline and are poor conductors of electricity, though some recently discovered copper-oxide ceramics are superconductors at low temperatures.

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Etymology

Origin of ceramic

1840–50; variant of keramic < Greek keramikós, equivalent to kéram ( os ) potters' clay + -ikos -ic

Explanation

Something that's ceramic is made out of clay and baked in a kiln until it's very hard. If you sign up for a pottery class, you will almost certainly make ceramic bowls. Ceramics, also known as pottery, describes any dishes or other items made from hardened clay. You might have ceramic tile in your bathroom or kitchen, or a beautiful ceramic vase on your mantle. If you're an artist who makes clay sculptures, your art form itself is also ceramics. The word comes from the Greek keramos, "potter's earth."

Example Sentences

In conventional electronics, heat causes metal atoms in the top electrode to slowly migrate through the ceramic layer.

From Science Daily • Apr. 7, 2026

The ceramics hub at Morbi makes up 90 percent of India's total production and is one of the world's largest ceramic manufacturing centres, exporting tiles to countries like the United States and Thailand.

From Barron's • Mar. 29, 2026

And they said that efforts to offer things like comfier seats and ceramic mugs in its coffee shops might not attract younger customers.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 18, 2026

Yeesookyung collects ceramic shards of work discarded by master craftsmen due to minor flaws and reassembles these fragments into bubbling sculptures held together with 24 karat gold.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026

It was mostly ceramic, with a metal knob to advance the wick, and it looked ancient.

From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata

Related Words

• brick
• earthenware
• porcelain
• stoneware
• tile