CARDBOARD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cardboard mean? 

• CARDBOARD (noun)
  The noun CARDBOARD has 1 sense:

1. a stiff moderately thick paper

  Familiarity information: CARDBOARD used as a noun is very rare.

• CARDBOARD (adjective)
  The adjective CARDBOARD has 1 sense:

1. without substance

  Familiarity information: CARDBOARD used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CARDBOARD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A stiff moderately thick paper

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

cardboard; composition board

Hypernyms ("cardboard" is a kind of...):

paper (a material made of cellulose pulp derived mainly from wood or rags or certain grasses)

packing; packing material; wadding (any material used especially to protect something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cardboard"):

binder's board; binder board (a cardboard used by bookbinders to make covers for books)

card (thin cardboard, usually rectangular)

corrugated board; corrugated cardboard (cardboard with corrugations (can be glued to flat cardboard on one or both sides))

paperboard; poster board; posterboard (a cardboard suitable for making posters)

pasteboard (stiff cardboard made by pasting together layers of paper)

strawboard (a coarse yellow cardboard made of straw pulp)

• CARDBOARD (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Without substance

Synonyms:

cardboard; unlifelike

Context example:

cardboard caricatures of historical figures

Similar:

artificial; unreal (contrived by art rather than nature)

 Context examples 

Trees, painted on flat cardboard and stuck up on each side of the stage, we accept as a forest.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A square or rectangular vessel, usually made of cardboard or plastic.

(Box, NCI Thesaurus)

A cardboard box or container which is usually considered a secondary packaging component.

(Carton, NCI Thesaurus)

He drew over the picture the sheet of thin paper on which I was accustomed to rest my hand in painting, to prevent the cardboard from being sullied.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Lestrade went in and brought out a yellow cardboard box, with a piece of brown paper and some string.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet of note-paper.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He drew a small piece of cardboard from his pocket.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.

(New coronavirus stable for hours on surface, National Institutes of Health)

In token of his good faith, Mr. Ford turned two of his pockets inside out. A strip of cardboard fell to the floor from one of them.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A cardboard box was inside, which was filled with coarse salt.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)