noun
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the wood of any of numerous broad-leaved dicotyledonous trees, such as oak, beech, ash, etc, as distinguished from the wood of a conifer
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any tree from which this wood is obtained
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A eudicot or magnoliid tree, especially as distinguished from a coniferous, or softwood, tree.
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The wood of a eudicot or magnoliid tree. Hardwoods are in general harder than softwood. However, some hardwoods, such as basswood, are comparatively soft, while some softwoods, such as yew, are comparatively hard.
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Noun Inflected Forms
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Origin of hardwood
Vocabulary lists containing hardwood
Example Sentences
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Beyond hardwood or turf battles, younger siblings can benefit from a profound shift in parental behavior, a phenomenon Louisiana Tech University sport and exercise psychology professor Dr. Jordan Blazo calls the “rough draft hypothesis.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Clark, an inveterate trash-talker and hyper-competitive athlete, has seemed completely uninterested in courting controversy away from the hardwood.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
With these cookers, set the internal temperature and the computer takes over, feeding small compressed hardwood pellets into the fire as needed to hold the target heat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Instead, she and her cofounder, Louisa Pierce, replaced the material with more durable hardwood flooring throughout the upper level.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 2026
Dropped objects rolled down dips in the hardwood.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
The exhibition also spotlighted India's diverse range of high-quality hardwoods such as teak, rosewood and ebony, and the country's deeply-rooted traditions of intricate handcrafting by local artisans.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
While the pest prefers leafy hardwoods, like oaks, Salp said she’s seen them feed on conifers — the category that includes iconic Northwest species like the Douglas fir and western hemlock.
From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2024
Some varieties prefer to grow in manure, others like living trees and still others flourish on decaying hardwoods like oak logs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2023
The researchers also identified more exotic ingredients, including dammar and elemi, resins extracted from hardwoods native to Southeast Asian rainforests thousands of kilometers from ancient Egypt.
From Science Magazine ● Feb. 1, 2023
Long rows of reclaimed hardwoods and softwoods line the fence in short stacks, too many for me to name since there are more than one hundred thousand kinds.
From "The House That Lou Built" by Mae Respicio
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.
