noun / adjective / verb

concrete

KAHN-kreet/kʌnkrˈit/

A hard building material made by mixing cement, sand, stone, and water.

The chipped concrete slab reveals gravel embedded in its solid gray interior.

A thick, cured concrete paving slab with a chipped corner exposing gravel embedded in the solid gray cement matrix; a detached fragment reveals the same aggregate-filled interior.

Etymology

“Grown together” came to describe something hardened or congealed into a mass. That image underlies the building material: separate particles cemented together into a solid whole.

In context

This Week in Science (TWIS)65:47

to interact with anything and so the idea is that the cement is formed and you don't want it to expand at all and you because expansion could crack the concrete

Wait For It... - This Week in Science Podcast (TWIS) - Episode 626

More examples

Let the concrete harden before walking on it.
A concrete wall separates the two yards.
They plan to concrete the garage floor next week.

Forms

concrete · concretes · concreted · concreting

Similar words

cement: The binding ingredient in concrete, not the whole mixture.
mortar: Binds bricks or blocks and generally lacks concrete's larger stones.