stratum

[ strey-tuhm, strat-uhm ]
See synonyms for: stratumstrata on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural stra·ta [strey-tuh, strat-uh], /ˈstreɪ tə, ˈstræt ə/, stra·tums.
  1. a layer of material, naturally or artificially formed, often one of a number of parallel layers one upon another: a stratum of ancient foundations.

  2. one of a number of portions or divisions likened to layers or levels: an allegory with many strata of meaning.

  1. Geology. a single bed of sedimentary rock, generally consisting of one kind of matter representing continuous deposition.

  2. Biology. a layer of tissue; lamella.

  3. Ecology. (in a plant community) a layer of vegetation, usually of the same or similar height.

  4. a layer of the ocean or the atmosphere distinguished by natural or arbitrary limits.

  5. Sociology. a level or grade of a people or population with reference to social position, education, etc.: the lowest stratum of society.

  6. Linguistics. (in stratificational grammar) a major subdivision of linguistic structure.: Compare level (def. 17).

Origin of stratum

1
1590–1600; <Latin strātum literally, a cover, noun use of neuter of strātus, past participle of sternere to spread, strew, equivalent to strā- variant stem + -tus past participle suffix

usage note For stratum

Strata, historically the plural of stratum, is occasionally used as a singular: The lowest economic strata consists of the permanently unemployable. Less frequently, a plural stratas occurs: Several stratas of settlement can be seen in the excavation. At present, these uses are not well established, and they are condemned in usage guides. Strata may eventually become part of a group of borrowed plurals that are now used as singulars in English, such as agenda and candelabra, but it is not yet in that category. See also agenda, criterion, media, phenomena.

Other words from stratum

  • stratous, adjective

Words Nearby stratum

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use stratum in a sentence

  • And lifting them carefully one off the other, he took out a deal box that had stood in the lowest stratum.

    Checkmate | Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
  • It is only a lower stratum, but still it is a part of terra firma, and on no account is it to be ignored.

    Assimilative Memory | Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)
  • They reached a depth in his nature which had been long untouched; a stratum, so to speak, which lay far beneath the surface.

    Ramona | Helen Hunt Jackson
  • I thought that the frozen surface of the American woman thawed on the stratum soubrette.

    Ancestors | Gertrude Atherton
  • Reddish, very quartzose sandstone; from a stratum which dips to the south-east, at an angle of about ten or fifteen degrees.

British Dictionary definitions for stratum

stratum

/ (ˈstrɑːtəm) /


nounplural -ta (-tə) or -tums
  1. (usually plural) any of the distinct layers into which sedimentary rocks are divided

  2. biology a single layer of tissue or cells

  1. a layer of any material, esp one of several parallel layers

  2. a layer of ocean or atmosphere either naturally or arbitrarily demarcated

  3. a level of a social hierarchy that is distinguished according to such criteria as educational achievement or caste status

Origin of stratum

1
C16: via New Latin from Latin: something strewn, from sternere to scatter

Derived forms of stratum

  • stratal, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for stratum

stratum

[ strātəm, strătəm ]


Plural strata stratums
  1. A layer of sedimentary rock whose composition is more or less the same throughout and that is visibly different from the rock layers above and below it.

  2. A layer of tissue, as of the skin or another organ.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.