carve
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To cut meat to serve it.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kahrvIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɑɹv
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To cut meat in order to serve it.
To shape to sculptural effect; to produce (a work) by cutting, or to cut (a material) into a finished work, especially with cuts that are curved rather than only straight slices.
figuratively
To take or make, as by cutting; to provide.
To lay out; to contrive; to design; to plan.
noun
The act of carving
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To cut meat in order to serve it.
Used this way, carve is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use carve
- “Carve a flower from the ice.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A sculpture created by removing material (as wood or ivory or stone) in order to create a desired shape.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A large knife used to carve cooked meat.
Establish or create through painstaking effort.
Separate into parts or portions.
A large fork used in carving cooked meat.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.