concretes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of concrete.

   Engineers compared the strength of several concretes before pouring the foundation.

   High-performance concretes can withstand freezing winters and heavy traffic.

   Note

   A plural that usually means kinds rather than quantities. The building material is normally uncountable, so it takes an -s only when distinct mixes are being compared. Other senses pluralize more freely. Concrete terms can be counted, and so can semi-solid herbal extracts. In the US the frozen-custard dessert is counted too, so ordering two concretes there is ordinary.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of concrete.

   Each spring, the crew concretes the new sections of sidewalk.

   The mason concretes each post hole to anchor the fence firmly.

   Note

   The -s form of a verb that usually takes an object: a crew concretes a path, a mason concretes a post into the ground. The same form carries the figurative use, in which a plan concretes a vague idea into something actual. An older intransitive use, now archaic, let a substance concrete by itself, coalescing into a solid mass. The identical spelling also serves as the plural noun, and only the syntax tells them apart.

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