noun

tar

tah

noun

A thick, dark, sticky substance made from coal or wood, used in roofing and road-making.

"Workers spread hot tar over the new road surface."

In computing, a program (and the archive file it creates) used to bundle multiple files together on Unix-based systems.

"He extracted the source code from the tar file."

verb

To coat something with tar.

"They tarred the roof to seal it against leaks."

How to Use Tar

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA sticky black substance used in construction, or (in tech) a file archive format on Unix systems.

Common mistake

Don't confuse the computing "tar" file/program with the roofing material — context makes it obvious, but they're unrelated.

Common pairings

tar and feather coal tar tar file

Word Forms

tarred past tense, tarred past tense, tars plural, tars plural, tars plural, tars singular, tars singular

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Fill the Gap

Can you complete this real example?

Workers spread hot _____ over the new road surface.

Etymology

From Old English teoru, tracing back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "tree" — tar was traditionally made by distilling pine and other tree resin.

Antonyms

untar

Rhymes for tar

star Qatar altar sitar avatar mortar guitar tartar nectar Ishtar Mukhtar scimitar

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