cardboard

1 of 2

noun

card·​board ˈkärd-ˌbȯrd 

: a material made from cellulose fiber (such as wood pulp) like paper but usually thicker

cardboardy

ˈkärd-ˌbȯr-dē 

adjective

cardboard

2 of 2

adjective

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

Noun

Visible behind him were walls of framed fan art, a cardboard cutout of Bernie Sanders sitting in the cold, and Piker’s huge puppy, Kaya, taking a nap. —Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 17 Mar. 2025

Listen to this article Back when a Republican still represented Colorado in the U.S. Senate, something bizarre stood in the way of then-Sen. Cory Gardner’s path to reelection: a cardboard cutout of himself. —Seth Klamann, The Denver Post, 16 Mar. 2025

Adjective

The cardboard Christmas houses, decorated with glitter, twigs, and other items, are said to have originated with the Moravians who once created decorative Christmas villages built around Christmas trees, generally as an extension of a nativity. —Nicole Letts, Southern Living, 26 Nov. 2024

Her family celebrated holidays in hotels with cardboard Christmas trees. —Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 6 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1789, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

1819, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for cardboard

• abhorred
• aboard
• accord
• adored
• afford
• award
• baseboard
• billboard
• blackboard
• boxboard
• breadboard
• broadsword

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