: a powder of alumina, silica, lime, iron oxide, and magnesium oxide burned together in a kiln and finely pulverized and used as an ingredient of mortar and concrete
also: any mixture used for a similar purpose
2
: a binding element or agency: such as
a
: a substance to make objects adhere to each other
b
: something serving to unite firmly
justice is the cement that holds a political community together R. M. Hutchins
Noun There is a layer of cement under the bricks. what kind of cement works best on glass and pottery? Verb A win would cement her reputation as a strong competitor.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Ornilux windows, for example, emulate spider silk to reduce bird collisions while Carbon Cure makes cement that eats CO2, bricks can be built from mycelium and innovations continue apace. Felicia Jackson, Forbes, 27 June 2022 Officers learned that a 15-year-old girl had thrown a loose piece of cement at a car and, when questioned about damaging vehicles, spit at a teacher.cleveland, 2 Sep. 2022 Besides the rods, Mendel could have patched the space with a cement-like material, Paul Ricard said. Ed Stannard, Hartford Courant, 29 Aug. 2022 The original lions, created by Gavin Jack in 1916, were made of cement, and by the ‘70s had been badly damaged by weather, said Stephanie Angelides, a curator at the Capitol Preservation Board. Palak Jayswal, The Salt Lake Tribune, 26 Aug. 2022 That the centerpiece of his monstrous scene is a split-open bag of cement anguishes the heart.Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2022 The result would be a kind of cement to hold the soil particles together—and bricks. Jamie Carter, Forbes, 7 June 2022 Paul Marsh, a former cement company executive who was appointed as mine inspector by Ducey in 2021 after then-inspector Joe Hart resigned.AZCentral.com, 7 July 2022 Muraviev owned a cement company in Russia before founding his own investment firm, Parus Capital, according to the New York Times. Carlie Porterfield, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2022
Verb
Putin was hoping to further cement his ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping in an alliance seen as a potent counterweight to the West. Steve Coogan, USA TODAY, 15 Sep. 2022 Now, Blackpink are revving up to launch new music — to unleash more bangers, to further cement their place as one of greatest girl groups of all time — with no end in sight. Haeryun Kang, Rolling Stone, 23 May 2022 The district has grown redder in recent years, and the state’s new redistricting maps would further cement the GOP’s hold there. Cayla Harris, San Antonio Express-News, 15 Nov. 2021 This seemed to further cement the idea that Apple would soon unveil the iPhone 13 series as opposed to the iPhone 12s. Chris Hachey, BGR, 6 Sep. 2021 Still, Facebook’s response to the riots helped cement Clegg’s ascent. Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 4 Aug. 2022 His time at Central Command helped him cement ties with senior Qatari leaders, including Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the country’s emir.New York Times, 7 June 2022 Applebaum argues that the destruction was deliberate: eliminating the Ukrainians would help cement Sovietization, and the regime’s control over a resource-rich land. Joseph Stalin, BostonGlobe.com, 26 May 2022 The story helped cement Adelstein’s reputation as an unflinching chronicler of organized crime in Japan, propelling him to minor celebrity status as one of the primary experts on a shadowy underworld few had access to. Gavin J Blair, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Apr. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English sement, from Anglo-French ciment, from Latin caementum stone chips used in making mortar, from caedere to cut