sandpaper

US/ˈsændˌpeɪpɚ/

nounB1+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,081 of 15,258neutral

Sandpaper is paper coated with grit for rubbing surfaces smooth. A sheet of sandpaper, coarse sandpaper, sand it with sandpaper.

The number on the back is the grit size, and a higher number is finer, so you work up through the grades rather than starting at the smooth end. It contains no sand: the grit is usually aluminium oxide or garnet.

Definitions of sandpaper

1nounsandpaperPaper coated with grit for rubbing surfaces smooth.B1+
“Rub the old table down with sandpaper before you paint it.”

sandpaper is an abrasive.

Where it comes from

Sand plus paper, from the early nineteenth century, when the abrasive really was sand.

From sand + paper.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Tools & DIY

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sandpaper in the wild

There are many varieties of sandpaper, with variations in the paper or backing, the material used for the grit, grit size, and the bond.
Sandpaper
When used effectively it quickly produces a finish that equals or surpasses that made by sandpaper.
Smoothing plane
A sander is a power tool used to smooth surfaces by abrasion with sandpaper.
Sander
Ficus fraseri, the white sandpaper fig or shiny sandpaper fig, is one of several fig species commonly known as sandpaper figs.
Ficus fraseri
The sandpaper figs are so named for their leaves, which are rough and sandpaper-like in texture.
Sandpaper fig

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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