concrete

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: con=crete

CIDE DICTIONARY

concrete, a. [L. concretus, p. p. of concrescere to grow together; con- + crescere to grow; cf. F. concret. See Crescent.].

•  United in growth; hence, formed by coalition of separate particles into one mass; united in a solid form.  [1913 Webster]

  "The first concrete state, or consistent surface, of the chaos must be of the same figure as the last liquid state."  [1913 Webster]
•  Standing for an object as it exists in nature, invested with all its qualities, as distinguished from standing for an attribute of an object; -- opposed to abstract.  [1913 Webster]

  "Concrete is opposed to abstract. The names of individuals are concrete, those of classes abstract."  [1913 Webster]

  "Concrete terms, while they express the quality, do also express, or imply, or refer to, some subject to which it belongs."  [1913 Webster]

Concrete number, a number associated with, or applied to, a particular object, as three men, five days, etc., as distinguished from an abstract number, or one used without reference to a particular object. -- Concrete quantity, a physical object or a collection of such objects. Davies & Peck. -- Concrete science, a physical science, one having as its subject of knowledge concrete things instead of abstract laws. -- Concrete sound or movement of the voice, one which slides continuously up or down, as distinguished from a discrete movement, in which the voice leaps at once from one line of pitch to another. Rush.

concrete, n. 

•  A compound or mass formed by concretion, spontaneous union, or coalescence of separate particles of matter in one body.  [1913 Webster]

  "To divide all concretes, minerals and others, into the same number of distinct substances."  [1913 Webster]
•  A mixture of gravel, pebbles, or broken stone with cement or with tar, etc., used for sidewalks, roadways, foundations, etc., and esp. for submarine structures.  [1913 Webster]
•  A term designating both a quality and the subject in which it exists; a concrete term.  [1913 Webster]

  "The concretes “father” and “son” have, or might have, the abstracts “paternity” and “filiety”."  [1913 Webster]
•  Sugar boiled down from cane juice to a solid mass.  [1913 Webster]

concrete, v. i. 

 To unite or coalesce, as separate particles, into a mass or solid body.  [1913 Webster]
" Applied to some substances, it is equivalent to indurate; as, metallic matter concretes into a hard body; applied to others, it is equivalent to congeal, thicken, inspissate, coagulate, as in the concretion of blood. “The blood of some who died of the plague could not be made to concrete.” Arbuthnot."  Arbuthnot.  [1913 Webster]

concrete, v. t. 

•  To form into a mass, as by the cohesion or coalescence of separate particles.  [1913 Webster]

  "There are in our inferior world divers bodies that are concreted out of others."  [1913 Webster]
•  To cover with, or form of, concrete, as a pavement.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

concrete, adj., n., & v.
--adj.
1 a existing in a material form; real. b specific, definite (concrete evidence; a concrete proposal).
2 Gram. (of a noun) denoting a material object as opposed to an abstract quality, state, or action.
--n. (often attrib.) a composition of gravel, sand, cement, and water, used for building.
--v.
1 tr. a cover with concrete. b embed in concrete.
2 a tr. & intr. form into a mass; solidify. b tr. make concrete instead of abstract.

Idiom

concrete-mixer a machine, usu. with a revolving drum, used for mixing concrete. concrete music music constructed by mixing recorded sounds. concrete poetry poetry using unusual typographical layout to enhance the effect on the page. in the concrete in reality or in practice.

Derivative

concretely adv. concreteness n.

Etymology

F concret or L concretus past part. of concrescere (as com-, crescere cret- grow)

THESAURUS

concrete

Formica, Masonite, Tarmac, Tarvia, absolute, actual, adamant, adobe, agglomerate, agglomeration, appreciable, ashlar, asphalt, associate, authentic, bitumen, bituminous macadam, blacktop, block, body, bona fide, bone, bony, bracket, breccia, brick, bricks and mortar, bunch, cake, candy, canvas, carpet, carpeting, causeway, cement, cemental, certain, clabber, clapboard, clear-cut, clinker, close, close-knit, close-textured, close-woven, clot, clump, cluster, coagulate, coalesce, cobble, cobblestone, combine, compact, compacted, compound, compressed, concentrated, concretion, condense, condensed, congeal, congested, conglomerate, conglomeration, connect, consolidated, cork tile, corneous, couple, covering materials, crammed, crammed full, crowded, crystallize, curb, curbing, curbstone, curd, curdle, defined, definite, definitive, dense, detailed, determinate, diamond, diamondlike, different, distinct, distinguished, dry, dure, edgestone, esoteric, especial, exceptional, express, extraordinary, ferroconcrete, fiber glass, firebrick, firm, fixed, flag, flagging, flagstone, flint, flintlike, flinty, floor, flooring, gel, gelatinate, gelatinize, genuine, gluey, granite, granitelike, granitic, granulate, gravel, grout, hard, hard as nails, hardhearted, heart of oak, heavy, horny, impenetrable, impermeable, incrassate, individual, indurate, inner, inspissate, intimate, iron, iron-hard, ironlike, jam-packed, jammed, jell, jellify, jelly, kerb, kerbstone, knot, lapideous, lath and plaster, link, linoleum, literal, lithoid, lithoidal, lopper, lump, macadam, marble, marblelike, masonry, mass, massive, mastic, material, metal, minute, mortar, nails, node, nonporous, noteworthy, oak, obdurate, osseous, packed, palpable, pantile, paper, parget, parquet, particular, pave, pavement, pavestone, paving, paving material, paving stone, pebble, personal, physical, plaster, plasterboard, plasters, plywood, ponderable, precise, prestressed concrete, private, real, realistic, reliable, resistant, resistive, respective, road metal, rock, rocklike, rocky, roofage, roofing, roofing paper, roughcast, sensible, serried, set, several, shake, sheathing board, sheeting, shingle, siding, singular, slate, solid, solid body, solidify, solipsistic, special, specific, spun glass, steel, steellike, steely, stone, stonelike, stony, stucco, substantial, substantive, take a set, tangible, tar, tar paper, tarmacadam, thatch, thick, thick-growing, thicken, thickset, tile, tilestone, tiling, tough, unite, valid, veneer, viscid, viscose, viscous, wainscoting, wallboard, walling, wallpaper, washboard, weatherboard, wood

ROGET THESAURUS

concrete

Materials

N materials, material, raw material, stuff, stock, staple, adobe, brown stone, chinking, clapboard, daubing, puncheon, shake, shingle, bricks and mortar, metal, stone, clay, brick crockery, compo, composition, concrete, reinforced concrete, cement, wood, ore, timber, materials, supplies, munition, fuel, grist, household stuff pabulum, ammunition, contingents, relay, reinforcement, reenforcement, baggage, means, calico, cambric, cashmere, raw, wooden, adobe.

Coherence

N coherence, adherence, adhesion, adhesiveness, concretion accretion, conglutination, agglutination, agglomeration, aggregation, consolidation, set, cementation, sticking, soldering, connection, dependence, tenacity, toughness, stickiness, inseparability, inseparableness, bur, remora, conglomerate, concrete, cohesive, adhesive, adhering, cohering, tenacious, tough, sticky, united, unseparated, unsessile, inseparable, inextricable, infrangible, compact.

Density

N density, solidity, solidness, impenetrability, impermeability, incompressibility, imporosity, cohesion, constipation, consistence, spissitude, specific gravity, hydrometer, areometer, condensation, caseation, solidation, solidification, consolidation, concretion, coagulation, petrification, crystallization, precipitation, deposit, precipitate, inspissation, gelation, thickening, indivisibility, indiscerptibility, insolubility, indissolvableness, solid body, mass, block, knot, lump, concretion, concrete, conglomerate, cake, clot, stone, curd, coagulum, bone, gristle, cartilage, casein, crassamentum, legumin, superdense matter, condensed states of matter, dwarf star, neutron star, dense, solid, solidified, caseous, pukka, coherent, cohesive, compact, close, serried, thickset, substantial, massive, lumpish, impenetrable, impermeable, nonporous, imporous, incompressible, constipated, concrete, knotted, knotty, gnarled, crystalline, crystallizable, thick, grumous, stuffy, undissolved, unmelted, unliquefied, unthawed, indivisible, indiscerptible, infrangible, indissolvable, indissoluble, insoluble, infusible, density, solidity, solidness, impenetrability, impermeability, incompressibility, imporosity, cohesion, constipation, consistence, spissitude, specific gravity, hydrometer, areometer, condensation, caseation, solidation, solidification, consolidation, concretion, coagulation, petrification, crystallization, precipitation, deposit, precipitate, inspissation, gelation, thickening, indivisibility, indiscerptibility, insolubility, indissolvableness, solid body, mass, block, knot, lump, concretion, concrete, conglomerate, cake, clot, stone, curd, coagulum, bone, gristle, cartilage, casein, crassamentum, legumin, superdense matter, condensed states of matter, dwarf star, neutron star, dense, solid, solidified, caseous, pukka, coherent, cohesive, compact, close, serried, thickset, substantial, massive, lumpish, impenetrable, impermeable, nonporous, imporous, incompressible, constipated, concrete, knotted, knotty, gnarled, crystalline, crystallizable, thick, grumous, stuffy, undissolved, unmelted, unliquefied, unthawed, indivisible, indiscerptible, infrangible, indissolvable, indissoluble, insoluble, infusible.

VB be dense, become solid, render solid, solidify, solidate, concrete, set, take a set, consolidate, congeal, coagulate, curd, curdle, lopper, fix, clot, cake, candy, precipitate, deposit, cohere, crystallize, petrify, condense, thicken, gel, inspissate, incrassate, compress, squeeze, ram down, constipate.

Hardness

N hardness, rigidity, renitence, renitency, inflexibility, temper, callosity, durity, induration, petrifaction, lapidification, lapidescence, vitrification, ossification, crystallization, stone, pebble, flint, marble, rock, fossil, crag, crystal, quartz, granite, adamant, bone, cartilage, hardware, heart of oak, block, board, deal board, iron, steel, cast iron, decarbonized iron, wrought iron, nail, brick, concrete, cement, hard, rigid, stubborn, stiff, firm, starch, starched, stark, unbending, unlimber, unyielding, inflexible, tense, indurate, indurated, gritty, proof, adamant, adamantine, adamantean, concrete, stony, granitic, calculous, lithic, vitreous, horny, corneous, bony, osseous, ossific, cartilaginous, hard as a rock, stiff as buckram, stiff as a poker, stiff as starch, stiff as as board, hardness, rigidity, renitence, renitency, inflexibility, temper, callosity, durity, induration, petrifaction, lapidification, lapidescence, vitrification, ossification, crystallization, stone, pebble, flint, marble, rock, fossil, crag, crystal, quartz, granite, adamant, bone, cartilage, hardware, heart of oak, block, board, deal board, iron, steel, cast iron, decarbonized iron, wrought iron, nail, brick, concrete, cement, hard, rigid, stubborn, stiff, firm, starch, starched, stark, unbending, unlimber, unyielding, inflexible, tense, indurate, indurated, gritty, proof, adamant, adamantine, adamantean, concrete, stony, granitic, calculous, lithic, vitreous, horny, corneous, bony, osseous, ossific, cartilaginous, hard as a rock, stiff as buckram, stiff as a poker, stiff as starch, stiff as as board.