Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Shaped into alternating parallel grooves and ridges: Having a surface that is formed into a series of regular, parallel folds, waves, or wrinkles. This shape is often created to add strength or rigidity to a material like metal or cardboard.

Usage

The adjective corrugated is used to describe materials, surfaces, or objects that have a ridged, wavy, or folded pattern. It is most commonly associated with manufactured materials designed for structural purposes.

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The roof was made of corrugated iron sheets.
  • We packed the fragile items in corrugated cardboard boxes for protection.
  • The corrugated surface of the plastic pipe helps it bend without kinking.

Advanced Usage

• Technical/Industrial Context: The term is frequently used in construction, packaging, and engineering.
  • The architect specified corrugated polycarbonate panels for the skylight to diffuse the light.
• Descriptive Use: Can be used more broadly to describe natural or artificial surfaces with a similar wavy pattern.
  • Years of erosion had left the canyon walls deeply corrugated.

Variants and Related Words

• Corrugate (verb): To shape into parallel ridges and grooves.
  • The machine corrugates the paper to make it stronger.
• Corrugation (noun): A single ridge or groove in a corrugated surface; the state of being corrugated.
  • The corrugations in the steel channel provide extra stability.

Synonyms

• Ridged: Having long, narrow raised strips.
• Fluted: Having long, rounded grooves (often more regular and decorative than corrugated).
• Wavy: Having curves, not necessarily parallel or regular.

Antonyms

• Flat: Having a level, even surface.
• Smooth: Having an even and regular surface; free from projections or indentations.

Adjective

1. shaped into alternating parallel grooves and ridges
   • the surface of the ocean was rippled and corrugated