Meaning & use
metal
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
a hard, shiny material that conducts heat and electricity, such as iron, gold, or copper
Grammar: Can be countable when referring to different types: 'Metals expand when heated.' Uncountable when talking about the material in general: 'The gate is made of metal.'
Patterns
- a metal
- metals
- metal object
Gold and silver are precious metals.
The bridge is built from strong metal.
Recycling metal saves energy.
noununcountableinformal
a style of rock music with loud, aggressive guitars and strong rhythms
Grammar: Used without 'a' or plural: 'He listens to metal.' Often preceded by 'heavy'.
Patterns
- heavy metal
- metal band
- metal music
They played heavy metal all night.
She's a big fan of metal.
The festival featured several metal bands.
Word forms
| plural | metals |
|---|
Common combinations
- heavy metal
- He loves listening to heavy metal.
- precious metal
- Gold is a precious metal.
- metal detector
- The security guard used a metal detector.
- sheet metal
- The car body is made of sheet metal.
- scrap metal
- They sold scrap metal for recycling.
Synonyms and how they differ
- alloy
- An alloy is a metal made by mixing two or more metals or a metal with another element; not all metals are alloys.
Word family
- metallic adjective
- having the properties of metal, or resembling metal
- metallurgy noun
- the science of extracting and working with metals
Commonly confused: metal or medal? metal or mettle?
metal vs medal
A medal is a flat piece of metal given as an award; metal is the material itself.
metal vs mettle
Mettle means courage or spirit; it sounds like metal but is a different word.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'metal' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The correct answer is 'The sculpture is made of metal' because 'metal' is the material. 'Metal' in option 1 is wrong because the award is a 'medal'. Option 3 confuses 'metal' with 'medal' in the music sense. Option 4 uses 'mettle' meaning courage, which is not a material.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “metal”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.