carve
verb
ˈkärv 
carved; carving
transitive verb
1
: to cut with care or precision
carved fretwork
2
: to make or get by or as if by cutting —often used with out
carve out a career
3
: to cut into pieces or slices
carved the turkey
intransitive verb
1
: to cut up and serve meat
2
: to work as a sculptor or engraver
carver noun
Synonyms
- sculpt
- sculpture
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
We carved an ice sculpture. Who is going to carve the turkey? He carved while I made the gravy.
Recent Examples on the Web Scouts praised his ability to handle the ball and do the little things to affect winning, but now in his fifth year in the NBA, Brown has never been able to carve out a major role for himself. 
Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2022 King, meanwhile, is looking to carve out a role after moving from tight end. Tom Green | Tgreen@al.com, al, 26 Aug. 2022 All our guys have to earn a role and have to carve it out. cleveland, 7 Aug. 2022 But as more tasks moved to the cloud, VMware struggled to keep up growth and carve out a key role for itself. Liana Baker, Fortune, 23 May 2022 But as more tasks moved to the cloud, VMware struggled to keep up growth and carve out a key role for itself. Liana Baker, BostonGlobe.com, 23 May 2022 His violent running style (13th in the nation in yards after contact), impeccable ball security (zero fumbles in college) and experience on special teams (278 career snaps) should allow Haskins to carve out a supplemental role in the NFL. Michael Cohen, Detroit Free Press, 30 Apr. 2022 The best way to do this is to carve out your own market niche. Abdo Riani, Forbes, 22 Apr. 2022 And the rest of the industry is trying to carve out their own pieces of the pie. Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Sep. 2022 See More
Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2022 King, meanwhile, is looking to carve out a role after moving from tight end. Tom Green | Tgreen@al.com, al, 26 Aug. 2022 All our guys have to earn a role and have to carve it out. cleveland, 7 Aug. 2022 But as more tasks moved to the cloud, VMware struggled to keep up growth and carve out a key role for itself. Liana Baker, Fortune, 23 May 2022 But as more tasks moved to the cloud, VMware struggled to keep up growth and carve out a key role for itself. Liana Baker, BostonGlobe.com, 23 May 2022 His violent running style (13th in the nation in yards after contact), impeccable ball security (zero fumbles in college) and experience on special teams (278 career snaps) should allow Haskins to carve out a supplemental role in the NFL. Michael Cohen, Detroit Free Press, 30 Apr. 2022 The best way to do this is to carve out your own market niche. Abdo Riani, Forbes, 22 Apr. 2022 And the rest of the industry is trying to carve out their own pieces of the pie. Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Sep. 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
Middle English kerven, from Old English ceorfan; akin to Old High German kerban to notch, Greek graphein to scratch, write
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1
Phrases Containing carve
Kids Definition
carve
verb
ˈkärv
carved; carving
1
: to cut with care
He carved a block of wood to use as a bowl.
2
: to make or get by cutting
Artists were carving ice sculptures.
3
: to slice and serve (meat)
Would you carve the turkey?
carve
verb
as in to sculpt
to create a three-dimensional representation of (something) using solid material carved a statue out of rare marble Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- sculpt
- sculpture
- chisel
- etch
- engrave
- shape
- grave
- inscribe
- incise
- mold
- model
- form
- cast
- knap