texture

American  

[teks-cher] / ˈtɛks tʃər /

noun

1. the visual and especially tactile quality of a surface.

   rough texture.

2. the characteristic structure of the interwoven or intertwined threads, strands, or the like, that make up a textile fabric.

   coarse texture.

3. the characteristic physical structure given to a material, an object, etc., by the size, shape, arrangement, and proportions of its parts.

   soil of a sandy texture; a cake with a heavy texture.

4. an essential or characteristic quality; essence.

5. Fine Arts.

   1. the characteristic visual and tactile quality of the surface of a work of art resulting from the way in which the materials are used.

   2. the imitation of the tactile quality of represented objects.

6. the quality given, as to a musical or literary work, by the combination or interrelation of parts or elements.

7. a rough or grainy surface quality.

8. anything produced by weaving; woven fabric.

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verb (used with object)

textured, texturing

1. to give texture or a particular texture to.

2. to make by or as if by weaving.

texture British  

/ ˈtɛkstʃə /

noun

1. the surface of a material, esp as perceived by the sense of touch

   a wall with a rough texture

2. the structure, appearance, and feel of a woven fabric

3. the general structure and disposition of the constituent parts of something

   the texture of a cake

4. the distinctive character or quality of something

   the texture of life in America

5. the nature of a surface other than smooth

   woollen cloth has plenty of texture

6. art the representation of the nature of a surface

   the painter caught the grainy texture of the sand

7. 1. music considered as the interrelationship between the horizontally presented aspects of melody and rhythm and the vertically represented aspect of harmony

      a contrapuntal texture

   2. the nature and quality of the instrumentation of a passage, piece, etc

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verb

1. (tr) to give a distinctive usually rough or grainy texture to

texture Scientific  

/ tĕks′chər /

1. The general physical appearance of a rock, especially with respect to the size, shape, size variability, and geometric arrangement of its mineral crystals (for igneous and metamorphic rocks) and of its constituent elements (for sedimentary rocks). A sandstone that forms as part of an eolian (wind-blown) deposit, for example, has a texture that reflects its small, rounded sand grains of uniform size, while a sandstone that formed as part of a fluvial deposit has a texture reflecting the presence of grains of varying sizes, with some more rounded than others.

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Other Word Forms

• nontextural adjective
• nontexturally adverb
• retexture verb (used with object)
• semitextural adjective
• semitexturally adverb
• textural adjective
• texturally adverb
• textureless adjective
• untextural adjective

Etymology

Origin of texture

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin textūra web, equivalent to text ( us ) (past participle of texere to weave) + -ūra -ure

Example Sentences

He meticulously painted beer mugs, pipes, matches, newspapers and other everyday objects, paying scrupulous attention to texture.

From The Wall Street Journal

Pecans — toasted or candied — introduce flavor and texture contrast: that little crunch can transform the dish entirely.

From Salon

Soy protein isolate,which can be a protein source or improve food texture, is another marker of an ultraprocessed food.

From The Wall Street Journal

This area contains a series of long, shallow grooves set within a landscape of deep valleys, scattered impact craters, and surface textures that point to a distant ice age on the Red Planet.

From Science Daily

"It allows water retention because the texture of the soil has changed," he explained.

From Barron's

Related Words

• balance
• character
• composition
• consistency
• fabric
• feeling
• makeup
• nature
• pattern
• quality
• sense
• smoothness
• structure
• surface
• taste
• touch