concrete

From Latin concrētus, past participle of concrescō (com- + crescō).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒnkɹiːt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑnˈkɹiːt/, /ˈkɑnkɹiːt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːt

concrete (comparative more concrete, superlative most concrete)

1. Real, actual, tangible.

   Fuzzy videotapes and distorted sound recordings are not concrete evidence that bigfoot exists.

   Once arrested, I realized that handcuffs are concrete, even if my concept of what is legal wasn’t.

   • 2011 December 16, Denis Campbell, “Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients'”, in Guardian‎:

     Professor Peter Crome, chair of the audit's steering group, said the report "provides further concrete evidence that the care of patients with dementia in hospital is in need of a radical shake-up". While a few hospitals had risen to the challenge of improving patients' experiences, many have not, he said. The report recommends that all staff receive basic dementia awareness training, and staffing levels should be maintained to help such patients.

   • 2016 February 6, James Zogby, “Israel’s prickliness blocks the long quest for peace”, in The National‎:

     The secretary general went on to express his concern with recent Israeli announcements to expand settlements in the occupied lands, urging them to: stop the demolitions of Palestinian homes and confiscation of Palestinian lands, address the humanitarian situation in Gaza and to take concrete steps to improve the daily lives of the Palestinian people.

2. Being or applying to actual things, not abstract qualities or categories.
   • John Stuart Mill

     The names of individuals are concrete, those of classes abstract.

   • I. Watts

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

3. Particular, specific, rather than general.

   While everyone else offered thoughts and prayers, she made a concrete proposal to help.   concrete ideas

4. United by coalescence of separate particles, or liquid, into one mass or solid.
   • Bishop Burnet

     The first concrete state, or consistent surface, of the chaos must be of the same figure as the last liquid state.

5. (modifying a noun, not comparable) Made of concrete, a building material.

   The office building had concrete flower boxes out front.

• (perceivable): tangible
• (not abstract): tangible
• (particular, specific): See also Thesaurus:specific

• (perceivable): intangible
• (not abstract): intangible, abstract
• (particular, specific): See also Thesaurus:generic
• (united): discrete

concrete (countable and uncountable, plural concretes)

1. (obsolete) A solid mass formed by the coalescence of separate particles; a compound substance, a concretion.
   • 1661, Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist, page 26:

     "...upon the suppos’d Analysis made by the fire, of the former sort of Concretes, there are wont to emerge Bodies resembling those which they take for the Elements...

   • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia:

     [T]he tincture of Cocheneel is nothing but some finer dissoluble parts of that Concrete lick'd up or dissolv'd by the fluid water.

2. Specifically, a building material created by mixing cement, water, and aggregate such as gravel and sand.

   The road was made of concrete that had been poured in large slabs.

3. (logic) A term designating both a quality and the subject in which it exists; a concrete term.
   • (Can we date this quote?), John Stuart Mill:

     The concretes "father" and "son" have, or might have, the abstracts "paternity" and "filiety".

4. Sugar boiled down from cane juice to a solid mass.
5. (US) A dessert of frozen custard with various toppings.
   • 2010, June Naylor, Judy Wiley, Insiders' Guide to Dallas and Fort Worth, page 54:

     Besides cones, Curley's serves sundaes, and concretes—custard with all sorts of yummy goodness blended in, like pecans, caramel, almonds, […]

   • (Can we date this quote?), John Lutz, Diamond Eyes, page 170:

     When Nudger and Claudia were finished eating they drove to the Ted Drewes frozen custard stand on Chippewa and stood in line for a couple of chocolate chip concretes.

• cement
• mortar
• UHPC

concrete (third-person singular simple present concretes, present participle concreting, simple past and past participle concreted)

1. (usually transitive) To cover with or encase in concrete (building material).

   I hate grass, so I concreted over my lawn.

   • 2005, The Contractor's Guide to Quality Concrete Construction (→ISBN), page 95:

     CHAPTER 9: PREPARING FOR CONCRETING

   • 2008, David Squire et al, The First-Time Garden Specialist (→ISBN), page 12:

     Harmonizing the garden's style with the house is important, especially when considering the front garden. Too often, when moving into a new property, the car takes priority and concreting the area appears to be an imperative[.]

   • 2012, Formwork for Concrete Structures (→ISBN), page 417:

     The materials used for concreting should be stored properly[.]

2. (usually transitive) To solidify: to change from being abstract to being concrete (actual, real).
   • 2007, Charles Reinold Noyes, The Institution of Property, page 536:

     Just so economics has concreted the concept of capital.

3. (intransitive, obsolete) To unite or coalesce into a mass or a solid body.
   • Arbuthnot

     The blood of some who died of the plague could not be made to concrete.

   • 1845, The London Lancet:

     At three years her mother observed something come from her as she walked across the room, which, when examined, was found to be fat in a liquid state, which concreted when cold.

Etymologically, the antonym of concrete (verb) is secrete, but the two words have so far gone their different ways that this is scarcely noticed today.

• cocenter

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concrete

1. Inflected form of concreet

• concreet

concrete

1. feminine plural of concreto

concrēte

1. vocative masculine singular of concrētus

concrete

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of concretar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of concretar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of concretar.