Revised as of
29 Nov 2023
Ah, spring with thoughts of gardening. Planting new flowers, building brick planters, digging for that new “cement pond” . . . that Jed Clampett has the same problem I have. Yep, the word confusion over cement vs concrete is my bête noire. I can never keep track.
In writing this post, however, I realized that cement is the powder that is used to create something concrete, therefore (and it does help that cement comes before concrete alphabetically), one needs cement first to get to the second word . . . concrete.
People constantly refer to “cement” sidewalks, driveways, walls, etc. However, cement is a powder that, when mixed with sand or gravel and water, becomes concrete.
Hmmm, I’ll have to pay attention in future and see if that helps me!
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Cement | Concrete |
|---|---|
Stockage de ciments by Oussama zrafi is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Bags and bags of cement waiting to be used. |
Head Concrete was created by Bruce Head and uploaded by Dalilas (who resized the image) under the CC BY 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Beautiful concrete relief work located under Portage and Main in Winnipeg. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive
Plural for the noun: cements Third person present verb: cements |
Adjective; Noun; Verb, transitive
Plural for the noun: concretes Third person present verb: concretes |
| Noun: A powdery substance made with calcined lime and clay that is mixed with sand, gravel, and water to make concrete
Anything that binds or unites [Petrography] The compact groundmass surrounding and binding together the fragments of clastic rocks Verb, intransitive:
Verb, transitive:
|
Adjective: Existing in a material or physical form
Representing or applied to an actual substance or thing, as opposed to an abstract quality Noun: A concrete idea or term
Verb, transitive:
[Archaic] Form (something) into a mass
To make real, tangible, or particular |
| Examples: | |
| Noun: This figure is the ratio of sand to the sum of the Portland cement, lime, and mortar cement or masonry cement in the mortar. No more than six gallons of water per bag of cement should be used. Yesterday we went to Home Depot and ordered some fence panels, posts, sand, gravel, cement, etc. If I were you, I would glue the base tape back on with Barge cement. Time is the cement of friendship. Their traditional entertainment was a form of community cement. Midge, mix up a little more of that dental cement. All electrodes were soldered to a miniature socket, which was attached to the skull with dental cement. It postdates calcite cement as the latest pore-filling material. Verb, transitive: The two firms are expected to cement an agreement soon. We plan to cement the stones together for the wall. Our bungee jump is intended to cement our relationship. Paul is “building” some rocks using a papier mâché technique, cementing over the styrofoam. The original quartz grains were cemented by authigenic quartz. |
Adjective: In discussing some general problem in nature he always knows how to pick out a typical concrete physical problem and to give it a clear mathematical formulation. Brand awareness should be a stepping stone to more concrete action, like opposing sweatshop labour. It exists as a physically concrete form. I haven’t got any concrete proof. I can’t answer it in a very concrete or specific way. The words cat, water, and teacher are concrete, whereas the words truth, excellence, and adulthood are abstract. Noun: That old concrete sidewalk is breaking up. We’ll still need more concrete blocks. Six months on, much of the town is still submerged in broken masonry and fallen concrete. Verb, transitive: The post is concreted into the ground. One part of Tokyo, Sumida, was faced with urban flooding during rain as 80 percent of its surface area was concreted. Ick, the juices of the plants are concreted upon the surface. He is concreting God into actual form. Ger Foley had so nearly concreted his team’s victory with a point in the 54th minute, giving his side a 0–11 to 1–6 lead. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: cementitious Noun: cementation, cementer |
Adjective: concretionary Adverb: concretely Noun: concretion |
| History of the Word: | |
| Middle English, from the Old French ciment (noun), cimenter (verb), from the Latin caementum meaning quarry stone, which is from caedere meaning hew. | Late Middle English in the sense of solidified, which is from the French concret or the Latin concretus, past participle of concrescere meaning grow together.
Mid-19th century dates the noun sense meaning building material. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Cement versus Concrete
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: cement and concrete
Oxford Dictionaries: cement and concrete
Pinterest Photo Credits:
I took a photo of a bag of QUIKRETE 10-lb High Strength Concrete Mix and changed the product name on the bag to reinforce that it is cement. I also removed the background, rotated it, and made it transparent on the bottom. Concrete Workers by Petty Officer 1st Class Ace Rheaume is of US Navy Seabees placing concrete during a construction project on Naval Base Guam, Guam, 20 October 2015, courtesy of the US Navy.
