Meaning & use
carpeting
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“carpeting” is a form of “carpet”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
noununcountable
Thick woven material used to cover floors, or a floor covering made of this material.
Grammar: Uncountable when it means the material: 'new carpeting', not 'a carpeting'. Use 'carpet' or 'a rug' for one piece.
Patterns
- lay carpeting
- wall-to-wall carpeting
- new carpeting
The office has gray carpeting throughout.
We chose soft carpeting for the bedrooms.
The carpeting in the hallway needs cleaning.
verbtransitive or intransitive
Covering a floor with carpet, or covering a surface thickly with something.
Grammar: As a verb it takes an object when you name the surface: 'carpeting the stairs'. The -ing form also works as a noun.
Patterns
- carpet something with something
- be carpeted with something
They are carpeting the living room this week.
The field was carpeted with fallen leaves.
She spent the morning carpeting the stairs.
Word forms
| third person singular | carpets |
|---|---|
| past tense | carpeted |
| past participle | carpeted |
| -ing form | carpeting |
| plural | carpetings |
Common combinations
- wall-to-wall carpeting
- The hotel rooms have wall-to-wall carpeting.
- lay carpeting
- Workers laid carpeting in the new library.
- soft carpeting
- Soft carpeting makes the nursery feel warm.
- carpeting throughout
- There is carpeting throughout the upstairs rooms.
- thick carpeting
- Thick carpeting muffled the sound of footsteps.
Synonyms and how they differ
- carpet
- The usual word for one piece or the material; 'carpeting' often suggests the material as a whole or the job of covering a floor.
- rug
- A rug is a smaller, movable piece, while carpeting usually covers a whole room and is fixed in place.
- mat
- A mat is a small piece placed at a door or in a car, not a full floor covering.
Word family
Commonly confused: carpeting or carpeting? carpeting or carpenter?
carpeting vs carpeting
Do not confuse with 'carping', which means complaining continually and is a different word.
carpeting vs carpenter
A carpenter builds with wood; carpeting is about floor coverings, though the spellings look similar.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'carpeting' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Carpeting' is uncountable when it means the material, so it stays singular: 'new carpeting'. Options with 'carpetings' or 'a carpeting' treat it as a countable object, which is wrong here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “carpeting”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.