concrete

concrete
concretely, adv.concreteness, n.concretive, adj.concretively, adv.
/kon"kreet, kong"-, kon kreet", kong-/ for 1-10, 11, 14, 15; /kon kreet", kong-/ for 12, 13, adj., n., v., concreted, concreting.
adj.
1. constituting an actual thing or instance; real: a concrete proof of his sincerity.
2. pertaining to or concerned with realities or actual instances rather than abstractions; particular (opposed to general): concrete ideas.
3. representing or applied to an actual substance or thing, as opposed to an abstract quality: The words "cat," "water," and "teacher" are concrete, whereas the words "truth," "excellence," and "adulthood" are abstract.
4. made of concrete: a concrete pavement.
5. formed by coalescence of separate particles into a mass; united in a coagulated, condensed, or solid mass or state.
n.
6. an artificial, stonelike material used for various structural purposes, made by mixing cement and various aggregates, as sand, pebbles, gravel, or shale, with water and allowing the mixture to harden. Cf. reinforced concrete.
7. any of various other artificial building or paving materials, as those containing tar.
8. a concrete idea or term; a word or notion having an actual or existent thing or instance as its referent.
9. a mass formed by coalescence or concretion of particles of matter.
10. set or cast in concrete, to put (something) in final form; finalize so as to prevent change or reversal: The basic agreement sets in concrete certain policies.
v.t.
11. to treat or lay with concrete: to concrete a sidewalk.
12. to form into a mass by coalescence of particles; render solid.
13. to make real, tangible, or particular.
v.i.
14. to coalesce into a mass; become solid; harden.
15. to use or apply concrete.
[1375-1425; late ME concret < L concretus (ptp. of concrescere to grow together), equiv. to con- CON- + cre- (s. of crescere to grow, increase; see -ESCE) + -tus ptp. ending]
Syn. 1. solid, factual, substantial.
Ant. 1, 2. abstract.

* * *

I
Artificial stone made of a mixture of cement, aggregate (hard material), and water.

In addition to its potential for immense compressive strength and its ability, when poured, to adapt to virtually any form, concrete is fire-resistant and has become one of the most common building materials in the world. The binder usually used today is portland cement. The aggregate is usually sand and gravel. Additives called admixtures may be used to accelerate the curing (hardening) process in low temperature conditions. Other admixtures trap air in the concrete or slow shrinkage and increase strength. See also precast concrete, prestressed concrete, reinforced concrete.
II
(as used in expressions)

* * *

▪ building material
 in construction, structural material consisting of a hard, chemically inert particulate substance, known as aggregate (usually sand and gravel), that is bonded together by cement and water.

      Among the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, the bonding substance most often used was clay. The Egyptians developed (Egypt, ancient) a substance more closely resembling modern concrete by using lime and gypsum as binders. Lime (calcium oxide), derived from limestone, chalk, or (where available) oyster shells, continued to be the primary pozzolanic, or cement-forming, agent until the early 1800s. In 1824 an English inventor, Joseph Aspdin, burned and ground together a mixture of limestone and clay. This mixture, called portland cement, has remained the dominant cementing agent used in concrete production.

      Aggregates (aggregate) are generally designated as either fine (ranging in size from 0.025 to 6.5 mm [0.001 to 0.25 inch]) or coarse (from 6.5 to 38 mm [0.25 to 1.5 inch] or larger). All aggregate materials must be clean and free from admixture with soft particles or vegetable matter, because even small quantities of organic soil compounds result in chemical reactions that seriously affect the strength of the concrete.

      Concrete is characterized by the type of aggregate or cement used, by the specific qualities it manifests, or by the methods used to produce it. In ordinary structural concrete, the character of the concrete is largely determined by a water-to-cement ratio. The lower the water content, all else being equal, the stronger the concrete. The mixture must have just enough water to ensure that each aggregate particle is completely surrounded by the cement paste, that the spaces between the aggregate are filled, and that the concrete is liquid enough to be poured and spread effectively. Another durability factor is the amount of cement in relation to the aggregate (expressed as a three-part ratio—cement to fine aggregate to coarse aggregate). Where especially strong concrete is needed, there will be relatively less aggregate.

      The strength of concrete is measured in pounds per square inch or kilograms per square centimetre of force needed to crush a sample of a given age or hardness. Concrete's strength is affected by environmental factors, especially temperature and moisture. If it is allowed to dry prematurely, it can experience unequal tensile stresses that in an imperfectly hardened state cannot be resisted. In the process known as curing, the concrete is kept damp for some time after pouring to slow the shrinkage that occurs as it hardens. Low temperatures also adversely affect its strength. To compensate for this, an additive such as calcium chloride is mixed in with the cement. This accelerates the setting process, which in turn generates heat sufficient to counteract moderately low temperatures. Large concrete forms that cannot be adequately covered are not poured in freezing temperatures.

      Concrete that has been hardened onto imbedded metal (usually steel) is called reinforced concrete, or ferroconcrete. Its invention is usually attributed to Joseph Monier, a Parisian gardener who made garden pots and tubs of concrete reinforced with iron mesh; he received a patent in 1867. The reinforcing steel, which may take the form of rods, bars, or mesh, contributes tensile strength. Plain concrete does not easily withstand stresses such as wind action, earthquakes, and vibrations and other bending forces and is therefore unsuitable in many structural applications. In reinforced concrete, the tensile strength of steel and the compressional strength of concrete render a member capable of sustaining heavy stresses of all kinds over considerable spans. The fluidity of the concrete mix makes it possible to position the steel at or near the point where the greatest stress is anticipated.

      Another innovation in masonry construction is the use of prestressed concrete. It is achieved by either pretensioning or posttensioning processes. In pretensioning, lengths of steel wire, cables, or ropes are laid in the empty mold and then stretched and anchored. After the concrete has been poured and allowed to set, the anchors are released and, as the steel seeks to return to its original length, it compresses the concrete. In the posttensioning process, the steel is run through ducts formed in the concrete. When the concrete has hardened, the steel is anchored to the exterior of the member by some sort of gripping device. By applying a measured amount of stretching force to the steel, the amount of compression transmitted to the concrete can be carefully regulated. Prestressed concrete neutralizes the stretching forces that would rupture ordinary concrete by compressing an area to the point at which no tension is experienced until the strength of the compressed section is overcome. Because it achieves strength without using heavy steel reinforcements, it has been used to great effect to build lighter, shallower, and more elegant structures such as bridges and vast roofs.

      In addition to its potential for immense strength and its initial ability to adapt to virtually any form, concrete is fire resistant and has become one of the most common building materials in the world.

      in philosophy, such entities as persons, physical objects, and events (or the terms or names that denote such things), as contrasted with such abstractions as numbers, classes, states, qualities, and relations. Many philosophers, however, add a third category of collective names, or concrete universals, i.e., names of classes or collections of concrete things, distinct from the abstract.

      The distinction between abstract and concrete, though clear enough in general, is not a very sharp one, and borderline cases may be found. The series of terms “theory, true proposition, fact, and event” is an example, as, in theoretical physics, is the series “conductivity, speed, heat, magnetic field, light, electric charge, electron, molecule, quartz crystal.” In each case, the series begins with an abstract term; and it is fairly well agreed that the terms grow successively more concrete. If an absolute separation into abstract and concrete is demanded, however, it is difficult to decide where to draw the line.

      In existential philosophy, the concreteness of human existence in the world is strongly stressed; thus, the specific events of an individual's lived-through experience are characterized as concrete in contrast to the lifeless formalisms of logical analysis and the tenuous webs of metaphysical speculation. Understood in this sense, a “turn to the concrete” emerged as perhaps the most fundamental feature of mid-20th-century continental European philosophy, as also of the existentialist strands in American philosophy.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?
Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • CONCRETE —    Concrete is a compound made from sand, gravel, and cement, while cement is a mixture of minerals that become hard when water is added, binding the sand and gravel into a solid mass. Although concrete is traditionally considered an Ancient… …   Historical Dictionary of Architecture

  • Concrete — Publicación Formato Comic book Primera edición Julio 1986 Editorial …   Wikipedia Español

  • Concrete — est un comics créé par Paul Chadwick et publié par Dark Horse Comics. Le personnage éponyme est un homme normal dont le cerveau a été transplanté par des extraterrestres dans un corps de pierre. Les aventures de Concrete se passent sur terre,… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • 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.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Concrete — ist der Name mehrerer Orte in den Vereinigten Staaten: Concrete (Colorado) Concrete (Idaho) Concrete (North Dakota) Concrete (Texas) Concrete (Washington) Ferner: das englische Wort für Beton Diese Seite ist ein …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Concrete — Альбом Pet Shop Boys Дата выпуска 23 октября 2006 Записан 8 мая 2006 Жанр Синти поп Длительность …   Википедия

  • concrete — [kän′krēt΄; ] also, and for vt.1 & vi.usually [, kän krēt′] adj. [ME concret < L concretus, pp. of concrescere: see CONCRESCENCE] 1. formed into a solid mass; coalesced 2. having a material, perceptible existence; of, belonging to, or… …   English World dictionary

  • concrete — I adjective bodily, certain, cognizable, definite, demonstrable, determinate, distinct, embodied, existent, existing, explicit, firm, material, palpable, particular, perceptible, physical, real, solid, solidified, solidus, specific, substantial,… …   Law dictionary

  • Concrete TV — Format Independently produced TV Series Country of origin USA Broadcast Original airing 1994 Concrete TV, is a Public access television cable TV show in New York City that a …   Wikipedia

  • Concrete — Concrete, WA U.S. town in Washington Population (2000): 790 Housing Units (2000): 335 Land area (2000): 1.214845 sq. miles (3.146435 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.020393 sq. miles (0.052818 sq. km) Total area (2000): 1.235238 sq. miles (3.199253… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Concrete, WA — U.S. town in Washington Population (2000): 790 Housing Units (2000): 335 Land area (2000): 1.214845 sq. miles (3.146435 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.020393 sq. miles (0.052818 sq. km) Total area (2000): 1.235238 sq. miles (3.199253 sq. km) FIPS… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”