noun
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articles, vessels, etc, made from earthenware and dried and baked in a kiln
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a place where such articles are made
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the craft or business of making such articles
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pottery
Compare meaning
How does pottery compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Something made out of clay and baked in a kiln is a piece of pottery—and the craft of creating it is also pottery. You might make pottery in the arts and crafts tent at camp. Anything made from clay that's been fired, or baked at a high temperature in a kiln, is pottery. Some pottery is made on a wheel that turns while the potter forms the shape of a bowl or vase. Other pottery is formed with hands or tools that shape the clay. In the 15th century, a pottery was a potter's shed or studio.
Vocabulary lists containing pottery
The Stone Age - Middle School and High School
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The Stone Age - Introductory
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Sports and Hobbies
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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.
See Examples For:
Investors went ga-ga over industrial agglomerations for tin, oil, electric utilities, flour, furniture, copper, pottery, leather, borax, oatmeal, even coffins.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Not long after the intact vessel was discovered, students found fragments from a second, much larger piece of pottery that looked very different.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026
That population balance helps explain why most of the more than 7,000 artifacts recovered from the site since 2006 are fragments of Native American pottery.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026
Asian hornets spread through Europe after arriving in southern France in 2004, having reportedly hitched a ride in a consignment of pottery from Asia.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
The end of the Ice Age was accompanied by the first of the two most decisive changes in Japanese history: the invention of pottery.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Stoneware potteries, coal mines, and steel mills mostly died off to be replaced by refineries, hazardous waste incinerators, unconventional gas wells, and petrochemical facilities.
From Salon ● Mar. 3, 2023
A range of jubilee teacups, mugs, plates and pillboxes is being produced in Stoke-on-Trent, England, where potteries have been making royal commemorative ware for generations.
From Washington Post ● May 31, 2022
“Limestone County had several historic potteries, this being one of them,” he said.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 25, 2020
"Take the Tower from London, the RSC from Stratford and the potteries from Stoke, but leave our mustard in the Fine City. A sad day. A sad day."
From BBC ● Jan. 5, 2018
The town possesses breweries, tanneries, malthouses, flour-mills, saw-mills, brick and tile works, potteries and an iron foundry; its trade in butter is considerable.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 6 "Home, Daniel" to "Hortensius, Quintus" by Various
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.
