concrete definition | Dictionary.com

con⋅crete

[kon-kreet, kong-, kon-kreet, kong- for 1–15, 10, 13, 14; kon-kreet, kong- for 11, 12]

adjective, noun, verb, -cret⋅ed, -cret⋅ing.

–adjective

1.	constituting an actual thing or instance; real: a concrete proof of his sincerity.

2.	pertaining to or concerned with realities or actual instances rather than abstractions; particular (opposed to general ): concrete ideas.

3.	representing or applied to an actual substance or thing, as opposed to an abstract quality: The words “cat,” “water,” and “teacher” are concrete, whereas the words “truth,” “excellence,” and “adulthood” are abstract.

4.	made of concrete: a concrete pavement.

5.	formed by coalescence of separate particles into a mass; united in a coagulated, condensed, or solid mass or state.

–noun

6.	an artificial, stonelike material used for various structural purposes, made by mixing cement and various aggregates, as sand, pebbles, gravel, or shale, with water and allowing the mixture to harden. Compare reinforced concrete.

7.	any of various other artificial building or paving materials, as those containing tar.

8.	a concrete idea or term; a word or notion having an actual or existent thing or instance as its referent.

9.	a mass formed by coalescence or concretion of particles of matter.

–verb (used with object)

10.	to treat or lay with concrete: to concrete a sidewalk.

11.	to form into a mass by coalescence of particles; render solid.

12.	to make real, tangible, or particular.

–verb (used without object)

13.	to coalesce into a mass; become solid; harden.

14.	to use or apply concrete.

—Idiom

15.	set or cast in concrete, to put (something) in final form; finalize so as to prevent change or reversal: The basic agreement sets in concrete certain policies.

Origin:
1375–1425; late ME concret < L concrētus (ptp. of concrēscere to grow together), equiv. to con- con- + crē- (s. of crēscere to grow, increase; see -esce ) + -tus ptp. ending

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Language Translation for : concrete

Spanish:

de hormigón,

German:

Beton-…,

Japanese:

コンクリートの

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con·crete (kŏn-krēt', kŏng-, kŏn'krēt', kŏng'-) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Of or relating to an actual, specific thing or instance; particular: had the concrete evidence needed to convict.
Existing in reality or in real experience; perceptible by the senses; real: concrete objects such as trees.
Formed by the coalescence of separate particles or parts into one mass; solid.
Made of hard, strong, conglomerate construction material.

n. (kŏn'krēt', kŏng'-, kŏn-krēt', kŏng-)

A hard, strong construction material consisting of sand, conglomerate gravel, pebbles, broken stone, or slag in a mortar or cement matrix.
A mass formed by the coalescence of particles.

v. (kŏn'krēt', kŏng'-, kŏn-krēt', kŏng-) con·cret·ed, con·cret·ing, con·cretes

v. tr.

To build, treat, or cover with hard, strong conglomerate construction material.
To form into a mass by coalescence or cohesion of particles or parts.

v. intr.
To harden; solidify.

[Middle English concret, from Latin concrētus, past participle of concrēscere, to grow together, harden : com-, com- + crēscere, to grow; see ker-² in Indo-European roots.]
con·crete'ly adv., con·crete'ness n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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concrete (adj.)

1471, from L. concretus, pp. of concrescere "to grow together," from com- "together" + crescere "to grow" (see crescent). A logicians' term until meaning began to expand 1600s. Noun sense of "building material made from cement, etc." is first recorded 1834.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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concrete
adjective
1.	capable of being perceived by the senses; not abstract or imaginary; "concrete objects such as trees" [ant: abstract]
2.	formed by the coalescence of particles
noun
1.	a strong hard building material composed of sand and gravel and cement and water
verb
1.	cover with cement; "concrete the walls"
2.	form into a solid mass; coalesce

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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concrete con·crete (kŏn-krēt', kŏn'krēt')
adj.

Relating to an actual, specific thing or instance; particular.
Existing in reality or in real experience; perceptible by the senses; real.
Relating to a material thing or group of things as opposed to an abstraction.
Formed by the coalescence of separate particles or parts into one mass; solid.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Concrete, WA (town, FIPS 14380)
Location: (48.539084, -121.747188)
Population (2000): 790 (335 housing units)
Area: 1.214845 sq mi (land), 0.020393 sq mi (water)
Zip code(s): 98237

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau
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Concrete

Con"crete\ (? or ?), a. [L. concretus, p. p. of concrescere to grow together; con- + crescere to grow; cf. F. concret. See Crescent.]

1. United in growth; hence, formed by coalition of separate particles into one mass; united in a solid form.

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

2. (Logic) (a) 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. Hence: (b) Applied to a specific object; special; particular; -- opposed to general. See Abstract, 3.

Concrete is opposed to abstract. The names of individuals are concrete, those of classes abstract. --J. S. Mill.

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

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

Con"crete\, n. 1. A compound or mass formed by concretion, spontaneous union, or coalescence of separate particles of matter in one body.

To divide all concretes, minerals and others, into the same number of distinct substances. --Boyle.

2. 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.

3. (Logic) A term designating both a quality and the subject in which it exists; a concrete term.

The concretes "father" and "son" have, or might have, the abstracts "paternity" and "filiety". --J. S. Mill.

4. (Sugar Making) Sugar boiled down from cane juice to a solid mass.

Concrete

Con*crete"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Concreted; p. pr & vb. n. Concreting.] To unite or coalesce, as separate particles, into a mass or solid body.

Note: 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.

Concrete

Con*crete"\, v. t. 1. To form into a mass, as by the cohesion or coalescence of separate particles.

There are in our inferior world divers bodies that are concreted out of others. --Sir M. Hale.

2. To cover with, or form of, concrete, as a pavement.