cardboard

UK/ˈkɑːdbɔːd/US/ˈkɑɹdˌbɔɹd/

nounB22 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,081 of 15,258neutral

Cardboard is the stiff thick paper that boxes are made of. Brown, corrugated in the middle, and endlessly reused.

The corrugated kind has a wavy layer between two flat ones, which is what makes it strong for its weight. It is one of the most recycled materials in the world. The word has a dismissive figurative use in criticism, since a cardboard character in a novel is flat and unconvincing, with nothing behind the surface. A cardboard cut-out is the same idea made literal.

Definitions of cardboard

1nouncardboardStiff thick paper used for boxes and packaging.B2
“He flattened the cardboard for the recycling.”
2adjectiveflatFlat and unconvincing, of a character.C1
“The villain is a cardboard figure with no motive.”

Where it comes from

From card + board.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Colors, Shapes & Numbers, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 39 of A Man Called Ove.

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