ceramics
Americannoun
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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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of ceramics
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How does ceramics compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
Students either catalog recovered artifacts, most of which are ceramics, or "broken pots," as Anderson described them, or supervise excavation trenches.
From Science Daily • Jun. 25, 2026
Its high-tech ceramics are used to hold silicon wafers motionless while they are etched with circuitry.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 2026
The gallery presents a condensed history of blue-and-white ceramics globally in dishes, starting in the Middle East with a 9th century Iraqi piece.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 17, 2026
The government has announced a £120m package to support the UK ceramics sector.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
There’s not enough time left in the year to get anything in the kiln, so those of us who bothered to show up to ceramics at all have been left to our own devices.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
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.
