ceramics

[ suh-ram-iks ]

/ səˈræm ɪks /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ceramics ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

(used with a singular verb) the art or technology of making objects of clay and similar materials treated by firing.

(used with a plural verb) articles of earthenware, porcelain, etc.

RELATED WORDS

wares, china, slipware, terracotta

Nearby words

ceramal, ceramic, ceramic engineering, ceramic hob, ceramic oxide, ceramics, ceramidase, ceramide, ceramist, cerargyrite, cerastes

Origin of ceramics

First recorded in 1855–60; see origin at ceramic, -ics

Definition for ceramics (2 of 2)

ceramic

[ suh-ram-ik ]

/ səˈræm ɪk /

adjective

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

noun

ceramic material.

Origin of ceramic

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ceramics

The Daily Pic: James Hyde combines painting, ceramics and photography.
Painteramicography?|Blake Gopnik|May 15, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The photo's blues and oranges seem to echo some of the greatest Islamic ceramics.
Newsweek's Liohn Roars|Blake Gopnik|April 25, 2012|DAILY BEAST
I also love strolling around Chinatown to shop for things like ceramics.
Fresh Picks|Alfred Portale|August 31, 2011|DAILY BEAST
To arrive at a technical reason for these differences in styles is to examine the theories governing the art of ceramics.
Chats on Royal Copenhagen Porcelain|Arthur Hayden

My first two visits had been occasioned by official pilgrimages as a British Museum expert in ceramics.
The Matador of the Five Towns and Other Stories|Arnold Bennett
Any representative collection of ceramics will prove a veritable treasure house of suggestion to the student.
Pottery, for Artists Craftsmen & Teachers|George J. Cox
How this lady came to acquire a taste for ceramics, it is not, in view of what heretics call China-mania, hard to imagine.
The Ceramic Art|Jennie J. Young
The making of ceramics was developed to an art, as was the making of different types of glass.
Space Prison|Tom Godwin

British Dictionary definitions for ceramics (1 of 2)

ceramics

/ (sɪˈræmɪks) /

noun

(functioning as singular) the art and techniques of producing articles of clay, porcelain, etc

Derived Formsceramist (ˈsɛrəmɪst) or ceramicist, noun

British Dictionary definitions for ceramics (2 of 2)

ceramic

/ (sɪˈræmɪk) /

noun

a hard brittle material made by firing clay and similar substances

an object made from such a material

adjective

of, relating to, or made from a ceramicthis vase is ceramic

of or relating to ceramicsceramic arts and crafts

Word Origin for ceramic

C19: from Greek keramikos, from keramos potter's clay, pottery

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

Word Origin and History for ceramics

ceramic

adj.

1850, keramic, from Greek keramikos, from keramos "potter's clay, pottery, tiles," perhaps from a pre-Hellenic word. Watkins suggests possible connection with Latin cremare "to burn," but Klein's sources are firmly against this. Spelling influenced by French céramique (1806). Related: ceramist (1855). Ceramics is attested from 1857.

Science definitions for ceramics

ceramic

[ sə-răm′ĭk ]

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.