- Concrete
- Concrete Con"crete (? or ?), a. [L. concretus, p. p. of
concrescere to grow together; con- + crescere to grow; cf. F.
concret. See {Crescent}.]
1. United in growth; hence, formed by coalition of separate
particles into one mass; united in a solid form.
[1913 Webster]
The first concrete state, or consistent surface, of the chaos must be of the same figure as the last liquid state. --Bp. Burnet. [1913 Webster]
2. (Logic) (a) Standing for an object as it exists in nature, invested with all its qualities, as distinguished 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. [1913 Webster]
Concrete is opposed to abstract. The names of individuals are concrete, those of classes abstract. --J. S. Mill. [1913 Webster]
Concrete terms, while they express the quality, do also express, or imply, or refer to, some subject to which it belongs. --I. Watts. [1913 Webster]
{Concrete number}, a number associated with, or applied to, a particular object, as three men, five days, etc., as distinguished from an abstract number, or one used without reference to a particular object.
{Concrete quantity}, a physical object or a collection of such objects. --Davies & Peck.
{Concrete science}, a physical science, one having as its subject of knowledge concrete things instead of abstract laws.
{Concrete sound or movement of the voice}, one which slides continuously up or down, as distinguished from a {discrete} movement, in which the voice leaps at once from one line of pitch to another. --Rush. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.