cement
/ˈsi.mɛnt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.94 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A powdered substance produced by firing (calcining) calcium carbonate (limestone) and clay that develops strong cohesive properties when mixed with water. The main ingredient of concrete.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The paste-like substance resulting from mixing such a powder with water, or the rock-like substance that forms when it dries.
Uncountable
noun
Any material with strong adhesive and cohesive properties such as binding agents, glues, grout.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time."
- "Indigenous bacteria, which naturally exist in specific environments, are being increasingly utilized in self-healing cement to promote calcite precipitation, a process that fills cracks and restores the material’s structural integrity [4,5]."
- "the cement of our love"
- "to cement a cellar floor"
- "For they have entertained cause enough To draw their swords: but how the fear of us May cement their divisions and bind up The petty difference, we yet not know."
- "Olympic Games. — Besides the ordinary confederacies that join independent states together, a singular federal bond is remarkable in the Olympic games, which for many ages cemented the Grecian commonwealths by a joint tie of recreation and religious ritual."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *kh₂éydeti Proto-Italic *kaidō Latin caedō Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom Proto-Italic *-mentom Latin -mentum Latin caementum Old French cimentbor. Middle English syment English cement From Middle English syment, cyment, from Old French ciment, from Latin caementum (“quarry stone; stone chips for making mortar”), from caedō (“to cut, hew”). Doublet of cementum.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *kh₂eyd-, syment, ciment, caementum
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsi.mɛnt/