concrete Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a strong hard building material composed of sand and gravel and cement and water
  2. verb cover with cement
    • concrete the walls
  3. verb form into a solid mass; coalesce
  4. adjective capable of being perceived by the senses; not abstract or imaginary
    • concrete objects such as trees
  5. adjective satellite formed by the coalescence of particles

WordNet

Con"crete adjective
Etymology
L. concretus, p. p. of concrescere to grow together; con- + crescere to grow; cf. F. concret. See Crescent.
Definitions
  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 distingushed 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 a 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.
    Rush.
Con"crete noun
Definitions
  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.
Con*crete" intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Concreted; present participle & verbal noun Concreting
Definitions
  1. To unite or coalesce, as separate particles, into a mass or solid body. ✍ 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.
Con*crete" transitive verb
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913