ceramics
Americannoun
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ceramics
plural
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(used with a singular verb) the art or technology of making objects of clay and similar materials treated by firing.
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(used with a plural verb) articles of earthenware, porcelain, etc.
noun
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Derived Forms
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Nouns
Etymology
Origin of ceramics
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Explanation
The branch of art known as ceramics is all about making pottery. A ceramics class might teach you to make a bowl from clay using a pottery wheel. In ceramics, artists pinch cups and figures from clay, and create bowls, plates, and pots by spinning and shaping the clay on a wheel. Most of these items — which can also be called ceramics — are glazed or painted, and baked in an extremely hot oven. The word ceramics comes from the Greek word keramos, "potter's clay," or "tiles."
Vocabulary lists containing ceramics
Visual Arts - Introductory
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Visual Arts - High School
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Visual Arts - Middle School
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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.
Paintings, sculptures, ceramics and books line every available wall, shelf and tabletop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
His paintings and ceramics are layered and collage-like, driven by instinct rather than by a predestined end point.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Many silicon-derived materials used in concrete, glass, ceramics, semiconductors, and silicones require high temperatures, large amounts of energy, and intensive chemical processing to produce.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
Most of the porcelain was made for the European market, underscoring a subtext of cross-fertilization, already stated by Islamic ceramics imitating Chinese blue and white.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
In the ceramics discovered, residues preserved within them for thousands of years held DNA.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
