Meaning & use
woodcarver
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Meaning
nouncountable
Someone whose craft or job is cutting wood into figures, letters, or decorative patterns.
Grammar: Countable: 'a woodcarver', 'several woodcarvers'. It is the same word as 'wood carver', just written as one word.
Patterns
- a local woodcarver
- become a woodcarver
A local woodcarver engraved the names on the plaque.
He became a woodcarver after years of making furniture.
The museum bought three pieces from a young woodcarver.
Word forms
| plural | woodcarvers |
|---|
Common combinations
- a gifted woodcarver
- She is a gifted woodcarver who sells her work online.
- a master woodcarver
- A master woodcarver taught him how to hold the chisel.
- commission a woodcarver
- The church commissioned a woodcarver to restore the altar.
- a woodcarver's workshop
- The smell of pine filled the woodcarver's workshop.
Synonyms and how they differ
- carver
- Works for any material, so it is less precise when you mean wood specifically.
- woodworker
- Covers all kinds of woodworking, including joinery, not only carved decoration.
- sculptor
- Usually works in stone, clay, or metal and often makes larger free-standing art.
Word family
- woodcarving noun
- The craft of carving wood, or an object made that way.
- carve verb
- To cut a material into a shape or design.
- carved adjective
- Describes something decorated with a cut design, as in 'a carved panel'.
Commonly confused: woodcarver or woodcutter?
woodcarver vs woodcutter
A woodcutter fells trees; a woodcarver creates shapes and patterns in wood.
Practice
Choose the sentence where 'woodcarver' fits best.
Choose one answer.
A woodcarver cuts shapes into wood, so shaping an owl fits. Cutting logs for fuel is a woodcutter's job, and welding or bricklaying involve other materials.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “woodcarver”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.