carpet

noun

car·​pet ˈkär-pət 

1

: a heavy often tufted fabric used as a floor covering

also : a floor covering made of this fabric

2

: a surface or layer resembling or suggesting a carpet

carpet verb

see also on the carpet

Examples of carpet in a Sentence

We bought a new carpet for the bedroom.

Which brand of carpet did you choose?

The ground was covered by a carpet of leaves.

Recent Examples on the Web

From March to April, bright-yellow goldfields, purple phacelia, orange poppies, and pinkish stalks of owl’s clover carpet the rolling green hills at Carrizo Plain National Monument, a more than 200,000-acre open space in eastern San Luis Obispo County. —Cu Fleshman, Travel + Leisure, 8 Feb. 2026

Resembling a medieval Armenian fortress, the hotel has rooms that boasted arched doorways, stone flooring and handwoven Tufenkian carpets. —Marlise Kast-Myers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Feb. 2026

The rooms The 87 rooms are designed by Cristina Matos, who chose subtle tones—such as beiges, whites, and greens—with notes of color in the wallpaper and carpets, all of which allude to fauna and flora, and artistic ceilings. —Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Feb. 2026

Spilling across the bottom of the frame, unconcealed by any carpet or contrivance, soil forms the literal foundation of so many photographs by the Malian photographer Seydou Keïta. —Zoë Hopkins, New Yorker, 7 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Middle French carpite, from Old Italian carpita, from carpire to pluck, modification of Latin carpere to pluck — more at harvest

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing carpet

• Brussels carpet
• call (someone) on the carpet
• carpet beetle
• carpet bomb
• carpet slipper
• carpet sweeper
• magic carpet
• red carpet
• roll out the red carpet
• sweep (something) under the carpet
• tapestry carpet

Kids Definition

carpet

noun

car·​pet ˈkär-pət 

1

: a heavy fabric used especially as a floor covering

2

: a covering like a carpet

carpet verb