carve

verb

\ ˈkärv

carved; carving

Definition of carve

transitive verb

1 : to cut with care or precision carved fretwork

2 : to make or get by or as if by cutting —often used with out carve out a career

3 : to cut into pieces or slices carved the turkey

intransitive verb

1 : to cut up and serve meat

2 : to work as a sculptor or engraver

Other Words from carve Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about carve

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Examples of carve in a Sentence

We carved an ice sculpture. Who is going to carve the turkey? He carved while I made the gravy.

Recent Examples on the Web

And sublimation has likely carved penitentes into the ice there, the study team determined. — Mike Wall, Space.com, "Jupiter Moon Europa's Jagged Ice Towers Could Imperil Robot Landers," 8 Oct. 2018 Spain couldn't carve out any more openings and the match became the first of the World Cup to go to extra time. — Sean Drury, Pro Soccer USA, "Spain 1-1 Russia (3-4 pens): Hosts shock La Roja in PKs after dogged defensive display," 1 July 2018 Nearly two centuries ago, statesmen carved Alabama out of Mississippi, and then pushed out the indigenous—Cherokee and Creek—at the edge of bayonets. — Danielle Jackson, Longreads, "Alabama’s History Haunts, But It Also Instructs," 27 June 2018 For some of those students, the test is the first step in carving a path out of poverty. — Anne Branigin, The Root, "NYC Schools Chancellor Tells Desegregation Opponents: No One ‘Owns Admission’ to Top Schools," 8 June 2018 Doctors harvested cartilage from Burrage's ribs and carved a new ear out of that cartilage, according to a U.S. Army news release. — Matthew Martinez, star-telegram, "Surgeons 'grew' ear on Army private's arm after she was disfigured in horrific crash | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 9 May 2018 Once the bones have been carved out, they’ll be buried under a couple feet of clean sand to keep them out of sight while maggots and other insects find them and thoroughly clean them. — National Geographic, "This Man Has Helped Give 460 Dead Whales a Second Life—As Art," 9 Apr. 2018 The new proposal carves out seven exceptions to the law’s mandate, when a company might legitimately decline to share data. — Anna Wilde Mathews, WSJ, "New Rules Could Ease Patients’ Access to Their Own Health Records," 11 Feb. 2019 Earlier this month, a New York Times investigation found that Facebook had carved out exceptions to its data-sharing policies for major companies like Netflix and Spotify, agreements that were still in place as early as last year. — Russell Brandom, The Verge, "What’s wrong with Facebook and how to fix it," 27 Dec. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'carve.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.