Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

cement

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Remove ads
See also: Cement and cément

English

WOTD – 17 May 2016
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English syment, cyment, from Old French ciment, from Latin caementum (“quarry stone; stone chips for making mortar”), from caedō (“I cut, hew”). Doublet of cementum.

Pronunciation

Noun

cement (countable and uncountable, plural cements)

  1. (countable, uncountable) 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.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      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.
  2. (uncountable) The paste-like substance resulting from mixing such a powder with water, or the rock-like substance that forms when it dries.
  3. (uncountable) Any material with strong adhesive and cohesive properties such as binding agents, glues, grout.
  4. (figurative) A bond of union; that which unites firmly, as persons in friendship or in society.
    the cement of our love
  5. (anatomy) The layer of bone investing the root and neck of a tooth; cementum.

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

Verb

cement (third-person singular simple present cements, present participle cementing, simple past and past participle cemented)

  1. (transitive) To affix with cement.
  2. (transitive) To overlay or coat with cement.
    to cement a cellar floor
  3. (transitive, figurative) To unite firmly or closely.
    • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
      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.
    • 1840, John Dunlop, The Universal Tendency to Association in Mankind. Analyzed and Illustrated, London: Houlston and Stoneman, page 103:
      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.
  4. (figuratively) To make permanent.
    • 1758, David Hume, “Essay XXII. Of Polygamy and Divorces.”, in Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects, new edition, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar, in the Strand; and A. Kincaid and A. Donaldson, at Edinburgh, →OCLC, page 115:
      But friendſhip is a calm and ſedate affection, conducted by reaſon and cemented by habit; ſpringing from long acquaintance and mutual obligations; without jealouſies or fears; and without thoſe feveriſh fits of heat and cold, which cauſe ſuch an agreeable torment in the amorous paſſion.
    • 2016 March 27, Daniel Taylor, “Eric Dier seals England’s stunning comeback against Germany”, in The Guardian‎, London, archived from the original on 22 April 2016:
      [Dele] Alli’s ability to break forward from midfield was a prominent feature and the 19-year-old must have gone a long way to cementing his place in the team.
    • 2024 February 15, Fani Willis, 38:21 from the start, in See Fani Willis' entire defiant testimony in stunning courtroom moment‎, MSNBC, archived from the original on 16 February 2024:
      Me and Mr. Wade, we are good friends. My respect for him has grown over these seven weeks of attacks. We are very good friends. I think but for these attacks, it would have been a friendship that, as life goes, we would have stopped having. I think that you have cemented that we'll be friends to the day we die.

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Remove ads

Czech

Czech Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia cs

Pronunciation

Noun

cement m inan

  1. cement

Declension

Declension of cement (hard masculine inanimate)
More information singular, plural ...

Further reading

Remove ads

Danish

Noun

cement c

  1. cement
  • cementblandar

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch ciment, from Old French ciment, from Latin caementum.

Pronunciation

Noun

cement n (uncountable)

  1. cement (powder, paste)

Derived terms

  • cementmolen
  • cementpoeder
  • cementtegel
  • cementvloer
  • cementwater
  • cementzak
  • metselcement

Descendants

  • Afrikaans: sement
  • → Caribbean Hindustani: samenti
  • → Caribbean Javanese: semèn
  • → Indonesian: semen
  • → Papiamentu: semènt, samènt
  • → West Frisian: semint
Remove ads

Middle English

Noun

cement

  1. alternative form of syment

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

Borrowed from German Zement, from late Middle High German cēment, from earlier zīment, zīmente, from Old French ciment, from Latin caementum.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈt͡sɛ.mɛnt/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛmɛnt
  • Syllabification: ce‧ment

Noun

cement m inan

  1. cement (powdered substance)
  2. cement (paste-like substance)

Declension

Declension of cement
More information singular, nominative ...

Derived terms

adjectives
noun
verb

Further reading

  • cement in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • cement in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Remove ads

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French cément.

Noun

cement n (plural cementuri)

  1. cementum

Declension

More information singular, plural ...

Serbo-Croatian

Serbo-Croatian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sh

Etymology

Borrowed from German Zement, from Latin caementum (“quarry stone; stone chips for making mortar”), from caedo (“I cut, hew”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /t͡sěment/
  • Hyphenation: ce‧ment

Noun

cèment m inan (Cyrillic spelling цѐмент)

  1. cement

Declension

Declension of cement
More information singular, nominative ...

Further reading

  • “cement”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025
Remove ads

Swedish

Noun

cement c

  1. cement

Declension

More information nominative, genitive ...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads