Meaning & use
wood veneer
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountablespecialist
A very thin slice of real wood glued over a cheaper or stronger base to give furniture or panels an attractive surface.
Grammar: Uncountable as a material: a desk covered in wood veneer. Countable for types: different wood veneers.
Patterns
- wood veneer on something
- covered with wood veneer
The cabinet is made of plywood covered with a wood veneer.
A scratch in the wood veneer showed the pale board underneath.
Wood veneer costs less than solid timber but looks similar.
Word forms
| plural | wood veneers |
|---|
Common combinations
- real wood veneer
- The sideboard has a real wood veneer in walnut.
- apply wood veneer
- He applied wood veneer to the old table top.
- wood veneer finish
- The doors have a wood veneer finish.
- peel wood veneer
- Water damage made the wood veneer peel at the corners.
- oak wood veneer
- The wardrobe has a thin oak wood veneer.
Synonyms and how they differ
- veneer
- Veneer alone is shorter and can mean any thin covering, not only wood, so wood veneer is more specific.
- laminate
- Laminate is usually a printed plastic or paper layer, whereas wood veneer is a genuine slice of timber.
- facing
- Facing is a general building word for any outer layer, while wood veneer names the specific material.
- solid wood
- Solid wood is the opposite in construction, since it is wood all the way through, not a thin layer on another board.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: wood veneer or wood laminate? wood veneer or plywood?
wood veneer vs wood laminate
Wood laminate is a printed imitation layer. Wood veneer is thin real wood and can be sanded and refinished.
wood veneer vs plywood
Plywood is a board made of glued layers of wood, which may itself be covered with wood veneer.
Practice
A table is described as having a walnut wood veneer. What does that mean?
Choose one answer.
Wood veneer is a thin layer of real wood on a different base. A printed top would be laminate, not veneer.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “wood veneer”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.