ENGLISH
REFERENCE

plywood

n. uncountable
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈpɫaɪˌwʊd// UK //plˈaɪwʊd// ply·wood

n. a strong board made by gluing several thin layers of wood together. It is very common in building and making furniture because it does not break or bend easily.

n. a structural material manufactured from thin layers or 'plies' of wood veneer glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another.


SIMPLE

He used a sheet of plywood to fix the floor.

CONTEXTUAL

The construction crew boarded up the broken windows with thick plywood to protect the shop from the storm.

COMPLEX

Engineers often specify marine-grade plywood for boat hulls because the cross-grained layers provide exceptional dimensional stability and resistance to splitting under high moisture conditions.

Synonyms
Origin

From ply (“sheet”) + wood.

Usage

Usually uncountable when referring to the material; can be countable when referring to specific sheets or types ('a piece of plywood', 'various plywoods').

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