concrete

[kon-kreet, kong-, kon-kreet, kong-, kon-kreet, kong-]

noun

1. an artificial, stonelike material used for various structural purposes, made by mixing cement and various aggregates, as sand, pebbles, gravel, or shale, with water and allowing the mixture to harden.

2. any of various artificial building or paving materials, as those containing tar.

3. an idea, observation, term, or word having an actual or existent thing or instance as its referent, as opposed to its being abstract.

   Psychology is all about feelings and behavior, but I’m more interested in the concrete—and that’s why I became a surgeon.

4. a mass formed by coalescence or concretion of particles of matter.

adjective

1. constituting an actual thing or instance; real.

   concrete proof of his sincerity.

   Synonyms: substantial, factual, solid
   Antonyms: abstract

2. relating to or concerned with realities or actual instances rather than abstractions; particular (general ).

   concrete ideas.

   Antonyms: abstract

3. representing or applied to an actual substance or thing, as opposed to an abstract quality.

   The words “cat,” “water,” and “teacher” are concrete, whereas the words “truth,” “excellence,” and “adulthood” are abstract.

4. made of concrete.

   a concrete pavement;

   concrete lawn ornaments.

5. formed by coalescence of separate particles into a mass; united in a coagulated, condensed, or solid mass or state.

verb (used with object)

concreted, concreting 

1. to treat or lay with concrete.

   to concrete a sidewalk.

2. to form into a mass by coalescence of particles; render solid.

   Of these two semiliquid solutions, which one do you think can be more easily concreted?

3. to make real, tangible, or particular.

verb (used without object)

concreted, concreting 

1. to coalesce into a mass; become solid; harden.

   Has it started to concrete?

2. to use or apply concrete.

   We can’t begin concreting until all the forms have been installed.

concrete

/ ˈkɒnkriːt /

noun

1. 1. a construction material made of a mixture of cement, sand, stone, and water that hardens to a stonelike mass

   2. ( as modifier )

      a concrete slab

2. physics a rigid mass formed by the coalescence of separate particles

adjective

1. relating to a particular instance or object; specific as opposed to general

   a concrete example

2. 1. relating to or characteristic of things capable of being perceived by the senses, as opposed to abstractions

   2. ( as noun )

      the concrete

3. formed by the coalescence of particles; condensed; solid

verb

1. (tr) to construct in or cover with concrete

2. to become or cause to become solid; coalesce

Other Word Forms

• concretely adverb
• concreteness noun
• concretive adjective
• concretively adverb
• unconcrete adjective
• unconcretely adverb
• unconcreted adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of concrete¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin concrētus (past participle of concrēscere “to coalesce, condense”), equivalent to con- con- + crē(scere) “to grow, increase” + -tus past participle suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of concrete¹

C14: from Latin concrētus grown together, hardened, from concrēscere; see _concrescence

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. set / cast in concrete. stone.

Example Sentences

Men, women and children navigated streets filled with rubble, searching for homes amid collapsed concrete slabs, destroyed vehicles and debris.

Read more on Barron's

Meanwhile the city's once-bustling seafront, where families gathered on summer evenings, has become a corridor of tents and broken concrete, the site of a mass migration through the ruins.

Read more on BBC

Although the subject sounds abstract, the examples are comfortably concrete, from ancient trade routes to 19th-century canals and railroads to modern highway systems.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Other times, you want to pour concrete in your ears.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Cook County sheriff’s police and the Illinois State Police were on scene, occasionally shouting into bullhorns when protesters or reporters crossed the concrete barriers that had been erected to create a protest zone or box.

Read more on Los Angeles Times