concrete English · revision 5273

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=a. 1398|origins=la concretus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: noun, adjective UK /ˈkɒŋ.kriːt/, /ˈkɒn.kriːt/, US /ˈkɑːn.kriːt/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|concret]], from [[la|concrētus|t=grown together, hardened, congealed]] (perhaps through French concret),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998) the past participle of concrēscere “to grow together”, from con- “together” and crēscere “to grow”.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) It is related to [[crescent]], [[increase]] and [[accrue]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Denoting an actual or solid substance rather than a quality: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew's De Proprietatibus Rerum.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was chiefly a term of logicians and grammarians, the opposite of [[abstract]], until the 17th century, when it spread to mean particular or real, as in Milton, Hobbes and Burke.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Grown together, united, is from 1471 and obsolete.^(OED 1989) The noun, something material, is from the 1520s, and a mass formed by concretion from the 1650s (1656 in Barnhart).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The building material of sand, gravel and stone held with cement is from 1834.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) The verb, to form a solid mass, is from 1635.^(OED 1989) ''Concrete poetry'' (1958) translates terms coined in Brazil and Germany in the 1950s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * a. 1398 – denoting a substance.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1520s – noun, something material.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1635 – verb, to solidify.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1656 – a solid mass.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1834 – the building material.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1958 – ''concrete poetry''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A hard building material made by mixing cement, sand, gravel and water.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Made of concrete.^(Collins 2023)

+ # Definite and specific rather than vague: ''concrete evidence''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Existing in a real, physical form; not [[abstract]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(grammar)'' Of a noun, naming a physical thing.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To cover or set something in concrete.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[concretely]]

+ * [[concreteness]]

+ * [[concretive]]

+ * [[concretively]]

+ * [[concretion]]

+ * [[concretize]]

+ * [[concretism]]

+ * [[ferroconcrete]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[crescent]]

+ * [[increase]]

+ * [[accrue]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}