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
Blake Nelson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Apr. 2024
The voice instructed them to place the bars in a cardboard box and hand them over to a man who would take the gold to Washington, D.C., where it would be stored for them in a secure bank, according to investigators.
—Mitchell Willetts, Kansas City Star, 16 Apr. 2024
Along with his drug boss, my father, King, used kiddie-ride cardboard boxes and fiberglass carcasses to move drugs across the country.
—Lizz Schumer, Peoplemag, 13 Apr. 2024
Because most eclipse glasses are made out of cardboard, the arms of the glasses can be recycled so long as the lenses are thrown out, according to the University of Rochester.
—Solcyré Burga, TIME, 8 Apr. 2024
In New London, guests dined in front of life-sized cardboard cutouts of Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and Trump.
—Lawrence Andrea, Journal Sentinel, 8 Apr. 2024
The First 100 Words book features 24 pages made from tough cardboard to hold up against littles who love to explore everything with their mouth.
—Maya Polton, Parents, 29 Mar. 2024
One session will focus on creating art from cardboard.
—Janice Phelan, Kansas City Star, 3 Apr. 2024
To make a projector, cut a 1- to 2-inch square or rectangle out of the center of a piece of plain white paper or white cardboard.
—Jesse Kirsch, NBC News, 28 Mar. 2024
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
Noun
Cota stopped re-arranging cardboard boxes and cradled her face in his hands.
—Blake Nelson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Apr. 2024
The voice instructed them to place the bars in a cardboard box and hand them over to a man who would take the gold to Washington, D.C., where it would be stored for them in a secure bank, according to investigators.
—Mitchell Willetts, Kansas City Star, 16 Apr. 2024
Along with his drug boss, my father, King, used kiddie-ride cardboard boxes and fiberglass carcasses to move drugs across the country.
—Lizz Schumer, Peoplemag, 13 Apr. 2024
Because most eclipse glasses are made out of cardboard, the arms of the glasses can be recycled so long as the lenses are thrown out, according to the University of Rochester.
—Solcyré Burga, TIME, 8 Apr. 2024
In New London, guests dined in front of life-sized cardboard cutouts of Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and Trump.
—Lawrence Andrea, Journal Sentinel, 8 Apr. 2024
The First 100 Words book features 24 pages made from tough cardboard to hold up against littles who love to explore everything with their mouth.
—Maya Polton, Parents, 29 Mar. 2024
One session will focus on creating art from cardboard.
—Janice Phelan, Kansas City Star, 3 Apr. 2024
To make a projector, cut a 1- to 2-inch square or rectangle out of the center of a piece of plain white paper or white cardboard.
—Jesse Kirsch, NBC News, 28 Mar. 2024
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
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.
Dictionary Entries Near cardboard
Cite this Entry
“Cardboard.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cardboard. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share