wooden

[ wood-n ]

adjective

1. consisting or made of wood; wood:

   a wooden ship.

2. stiff, ungainly, or awkward:

   a wooden gait.

3. without spirit, animation, or awareness.

   Synonyms: expressionless, impassive, lifeless, vacant

4. dull or stupid.
5. indicating the fifth event of a series, as a wedding anniversary.

wooden

/ ˈwʊdən /

adjective

1. made from or consisting of wood
2. awkward or clumsy
3. bereft of spirit or animation

   a wooden expression

4. obstinately unyielding

   a wooden attitude

5. mentally slow or dull
6. not highly resonant

   a wooden thud

verb

1. slang.
   tr to fell or kill (a person or animal)

Derived Forms

• ˈwoodenly, adverb
• ˈwoodenness, noun

Other Words From

• wooden·ly adverb
• wooden·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of wooden¹

First recorded in 1530–40; wood ¹ + -en ²

Example Sentences

Each beehive has a series of flat wooden frames inside a wooden box.

From Science News For Students

This pan comes with a wooden batter spreader and a long “bakelite” handle to keep your hands away from the heat.

From Popular-Science

If you have wooden floors, they won’t get stinky, but they might get scuffed or damaged.

From Popular-Science

The Barasana people in the dense forests of Colombia, for example, traditionally live in wooden longhouses called malokas.

From Nautilus

The stones may have been attached to wooden handles at one time, Hublin and colleagues say.

From Science News For Students

Even when he opens up, the sentences are wooden, the scenes sucked dry of emotion.

From The Daily Beast

Its beautifully aged wooden exterior houses traditional floor seating and beautiful gardens typical of the area.

From The Daily Beast

Given that crucial importance, The Macallan is famously hands-on when it comes to its wooden barrels.

From The Daily Beast

From cognac to bourbon, rye to añejo tequila, many of our beloved spirits spend years aging in wooden casks.

From The Daily Beast

In the United States, people used to warn against taking wooden nickels.

From The Daily Beast

One of Yung Pak's favourite toys was a wooden jumping-jack with a pasteboard tongue.

From Project Gutenberg

She plays with Captain Lovelock as a child does with a wooden harlequin, she pulls a string and he throws up his arms and legs.

From Project Gutenberg

The whole thing begins to have a jigsaw look, like a child's toy rack with wooden soldiers on it, expanding and contracting.

From Project Gutenberg

Aunty Rosa hit him over the hands if even a wooden boat were broken.

From Project Gutenberg

We two of the Society have a wooden cabin in which we can scarcely turn around when we have a table in it.

From Project Gutenberg