card·board
ˈkärd-ˌbȯrd 
: a material made from cellulose fiber (such as wood pulp) like paper but usually thicker
1
: made of or as if of cardboard
2
: unreal, stereotyped
a play with cardboard characters
Examples of cardboard in a Sentence
Noun
Cover the windows with cardboard.
Adjective
The play had cardboard characters.
Recent Examples on the Web
Scott Gilbertson, WIRED, 27 Nov. 2023
Unable to return to their town, which is still occupied by Eritrean soldiers, Shila and her family are staying in a classroom with 19 other families, sleeping on scraps of cardboard.
—Katharine Houreld, Washington Post, 26 Nov. 2023
The kit comes with 16 cardboard panels for kiddos to fasten together with hook and loop connectors.
—Tanya Edwards, Parents, 25 Nov. 2023
The City Council passed legislation in 1989 requiring millions of households to bundle newspapers, magazines and cardboard and separate them from other trash, and to place glass bottles and metal cans in their own plastic bags or receptacles for curbside pickup.
—Sam Roberts, New York Times, 17 Nov. 2023
And there are all these stories about the allotment of condoms and cardboard beds that are designed to break if the lovemaking is too vigorous?
—Vulture, 3 Nov. 2023
Of course, this is Nintendo, so there's always a chance the company will throw a Wii U-style curveball and surprise everyone with a cardboard VR headset that tracks your sleep patterns or something.
—Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 3 Nov. 2023
Throughout the video Richardson dances with friends in a hotel suite and even kisses a cardboard cutout of Nick while blindfolded.
—Danielle Bacher, Peoplemag, 2 Nov. 2023
Which gives a bunny the idea: to don a cardboard box and act like a robot.
—Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Nov. 2023
Tom MacCubbin, Orlando Sentinel, 21 Jan. 2023
Then, boxes were shallow cardboard squares with flaps to lock them into place.
—Saahil Desai, The Atlantic, 13 Jan. 2023
Last Halloween, two doors down, a law librarian named Patty had lain in a cardboard coffin on her porch, dressed as Dracula, and jump-scared even the two-year-old next door, who leaped about ten feet into her brother’s arms.
—Matthew Klam, The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2022
On November 22, the Dollface star shared a video on Instagram of what looked to be a piece of paper bustling through the wind of a cardboard city.
—Adrianna Freedman, Good Housekeeping, 3 Dec. 2022
Secure a cool moon and clouds kit with balloons or glittery cardboard cloud cutouts to impress your peers.
—Seventeen.com Editors, Seventeen, 1 Dec. 2022
The facility was evacuated after a cardboard compactor caught fire last week, two days after the JFK8 fire, which was similar.
—Karen Weise, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2022
In the shadows for more than a half century, Mothman is now everywhere — in a stainless steel statue near downtown, in graffiti on the walls of the public bathrooms, in a cardboard frame with a face cutout so tourists can take photos.
—Emma Platoff, BostonGlobe.com, 3 Nov. 2022
The two sat at a table in front of a black curtain and a cardboard logo for the channel.
—Chicago Tribune, 27 Oct. 2022
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Noun
This Godiva calendar has 25 pieces of decadent chocolate nestled behind its cardboard doors.
—Scott Gilbertson, WIRED, 27 Nov. 2023
Unable to return to their town, which is still occupied by Eritrean soldiers, Shila and her family are staying in a classroom with 19 other families, sleeping on scraps of cardboard.
—Katharine Houreld, Washington Post, 26 Nov. 2023
The kit comes with 16 cardboard panels for kiddos to fasten together with hook and loop connectors.
—Tanya Edwards, Parents, 25 Nov. 2023
The City Council passed legislation in 1989 requiring millions of households to bundle newspapers, magazines and cardboard and separate them from other trash, and to place glass bottles and metal cans in their own plastic bags or receptacles for curbside pickup.
—Sam Roberts, New York Times, 17 Nov. 2023
And there are all these stories about the allotment of condoms and cardboard beds that are designed to break if the lovemaking is too vigorous?
—Vulture, 3 Nov. 2023
Of course, this is Nintendo, so there's always a chance the company will throw a Wii U-style curveball and surprise everyone with a cardboard VR headset that tracks your sleep patterns or something.
—Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 3 Nov. 2023
Throughout the video Richardson dances with friends in a hotel suite and even kisses a cardboard cutout of Nick while blindfolded.
—Danielle Bacher, Peoplemag, 2 Nov. 2023
Which gives a bunny the idea: to don a cardboard box and act like a robot.
—Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Nov. 2023
Adjective
One older trick to protect young stems is fitting the cardboard portion of a toilet paper roll around the stem as a barrier.
—Tom MacCubbin, Orlando Sentinel, 21 Jan. 2023
Then, boxes were shallow cardboard squares with flaps to lock them into place.
—Saahil Desai, The Atlantic, 13 Jan. 2023
Last Halloween, two doors down, a law librarian named Patty had lain in a cardboard coffin on her porch, dressed as Dracula, and jump-scared even the two-year-old next door, who leaped about ten feet into her brother’s arms.
—Matthew Klam, The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2022
On November 22, the Dollface star shared a video on Instagram of what looked to be a piece of paper bustling through the wind of a cardboard city.
—Adrianna Freedman, Good Housekeeping, 3 Dec. 2022
Secure a cool moon and clouds kit with balloons or glittery cardboard cloud cutouts to impress your peers.
—Seventeen.com Editors, Seventeen, 1 Dec. 2022
The facility was evacuated after a cardboard compactor caught fire last week, two days after the JFK8 fire, which was similar.
—Karen Weise, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2022
In the shadows for more than a half century, Mothman is now everywhere — in a stainless steel statue near downtown, in graffiti on the walls of the public bathrooms, in a cardboard frame with a face cutout so tourists can take photos.
—Emma Platoff, BostonGlobe.com, 3 Nov. 2022
The two sat at a table in front of a black curtain and a cardboard logo for the channel.
—Chicago Tribune, 27 Oct. 2022
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cardboard.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Dictionary Entries Near cardboard
Cite this Entry
“Cardboard.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cardboard. Accessed 10 Dec. 2023.
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Kids Definition
cardboard
noun
card·board
ˈkärd-ˌbō(ə)rd,
-ˌbȯ(ə)rd
: a material made from cellulose fiber (as wood pulp) like paper but usually thicker
More from Merriam-Webster on cardboard
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for cardboard
Nglish: Translation of cardboard for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of cardboard for Arabic Speakers
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