Meaning & use
clinker
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A hard, stony mass of fused ash left over from burning coal, or a very hard brick used in paving and construction.
See it in a sentence
Workers shoveled the clinker out of the furnace once the coal had burned down.
The old factory's chimney was built from dark clinker bricks.
A note on using this word
In informal American slang it can also mean a mistake or failure (as in a 'clinker' of a movie), a very different sense from the industrial meaning.
Words with a similar meaning
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Another way to use it
2. noun
(informal) A mistake, blunder, or something that fails badly.
The band hit a few clinkers during the live performance.
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