cinder block

American  

noun

1. a concrete building block made with a cinder aggregate.

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cinder block British  

noun

1. the usual US name for breeze block

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Etymology

Origin of cinder block

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

The daughter of a traveling salesman, Flores grew up modestly in the cinder block hills of Catia, a hardscrabble district of western Caracas.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 29, 2026

Its compelling antihero, sixty-something Rhys Kinnick, has spent seven years in self-imposed exile, occupying a cinder block cabin in a remote region of Washington state.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2025

Some of the footage showed the Beach refugee camp, an area of squat, tightly packed cinder block houses, with washing hanging outside.

From Reuters • Nov. 27, 2023

When I was in third grade, our survival drills required us to sit with our little faces pressed against the pastel cinder block walls of our school hallway to contemplate the nuclear apocalypse.

From Salon • Nov. 22, 2023

It feels like a cinder block is pressing against my chest, and by the way Zoey’s looking at me, I know I’m turning white or red or that my face has absolutely no color.

From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner