concrete

 

adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈkɒŋkriːt/
  • existing in a material or physical form; not abstract: concrete objects like stones
  • specific; definite: I haven’t got any concrete proof
  • (of a noun) denoting a material object as opposed to an abstract quality, state, or action.

noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkɒŋkriːt/
[mass noun]
  • a building material made from a mixture of broken stone or gravel, sand, cement, and water, which can be spread or poured into moulds and forms a stone-like mass on hardening: slabs of concrete [as modifier]: concrete blocks

verb

Pronunciation: /ˈkɒŋkriːt/
[with object]
  • 1cover (an area) with concrete: the precious English countryside may soon be concreted over
  • [with object and adverbial of place] fix in position with concrete: the post is concreted into the ground
  • 2 /kənˈkriːt/ archaic form (something) into a mass; solidify: the juices of the plants are concreted upon the surface
  • make real or concrete instead of abstract: concreting God into actual form of man

Phrases

be set in concrete

(of a policy or idea) be fixed and unalterable: I do not regard the constitution as set in concrete

in the concrete

formal in reality or in practice: the difference between war in the abstract and war in the concrete

Derivatives

concretely

adverb

concreteness

noun

Origin:

late Middle English (in the sense 'solidified'): from French concret or Latin concretus, past participle of concrescere 'grow together'. Early use was also as a grammatical term designating a quality belonging to a substance (usually expressed by an adjective such as white in white paper) as opposed to the quality itself (expressed by an abstract noun such as whiteness); later concrete came to be used to refer to nouns embodying attributes (e.g. fool, hero), as opposed to the attributes themselves (e.g. foolishness, heroism), and this is the basis of the modern use as the opposite of 'abstract'. The noun sense 'building material' dates from the mid 19th century