Meaning & use
stoneware pottery
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Meanings
noununcountable
Hard pottery made from clay fired at a high temperature, so it is dense, non-porous and often slightly rough in texture.
Grammar: No plural and no 'a': say 'a piece of stoneware pottery', not 'a stoneware pottery'.
Patterns
- make stoneware pottery
- a piece of stoneware pottery
- stoneware pottery is fired at high temperatures
The studio sells stoneware pottery that can go straight from the oven to the table.
Stoneware pottery is fired at around 1,200 degrees, which makes it strong and watertight.
She collects stoneware pottery and uses the mugs every morning.
noununcountable
The craft or activity of making this kind of high-fired pottery.
Grammar: Names an activity, so it takes no article: 'She teaches stoneware pottery.'
Patterns
- teach stoneware pottery
- take a class in stoneware pottery
He teaches stoneware pottery at the community college on Tuesday evenings.
After retiring, she took up stoneware pottery as a hobby.
Common combinations
- stoneware pottery studio
- They opened a small stoneware pottery studio behind the house.
- hand-thrown stoneware pottery
- The market stall is full of hand-thrown stoneware pottery.
- glazed stoneware pottery
- Glazed stoneware pottery is easier to clean than unglazed pieces.
- a piece of stoneware pottery
- Each piece of stoneware pottery is signed on the base.
- fire stoneware pottery
- You have to fire stoneware pottery at a much higher temperature than earthenware.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stoneware
- The shorter, more common term for the same material; 'stoneware pottery' stresses the finished objects or the craft.
- ceramics
- A wider word covering all fired clay objects, including delicate porcelain, so it is less precise here.
- earthenware
- Looks similar but is fired at a lower temperature and stays porous, so it is not the same thing.
Word family
Commonly confused: stoneware pottery or porcelain?
stoneware pottery vs porcelain
Porcelain is finer, whiter and fired even hotter, and it is often translucent; stoneware is heavier, darker and opaque.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'stoneware pottery' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Stoneware pottery' is uncountable, so you count it with a partitive such as 'a piece of'. Options with 'a ... pottery' or the invented plural 'potteries' are wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “stoneware pottery”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.