concretion

American  

[kon-kree-shuhn, kong-] / kɒnˈkri ʃən, kɒŋ- /

noun

1. the act or process of concreting or becoming substantial; coalescence; solidification.

2. the state of being concreted.

3. a solid mass formed by or as if by coalescence or cohesion.

   a concretion of melted candies.

4. anything that is made real, tangible, or particular.

5. Pathology. a solid or calcified mass in the body formed by a disease process.

6. Geology. a rounded mass of mineral matter occurring in sandstone, clay, etc., often in concentric layers about a nucleus.

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concretion British  

/ kənˈkriːʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of coming or growing together; coalescence

2. a solid or solidified mass

3. something made real, tangible, or specific

4. any of various rounded or irregular mineral masses formed by chemical precipitation around a nucleus, such as a bone or shell, that is different in composition from the sedimentary rock that surrounds it

5. pathol another word for calculus

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Other Word Forms

• concretionary
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of concretion

First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin concrētiōn- (stem of concrētiō ); see concrete, -ion

Example Sentences

Calcite forms impenetrable crystals in cracks and holes, reproducing the concretion formation process seen in nature, only much faster.

From Science Daily • May 22, 2024

What they wanted was the practical experience of disassembling and treating each pump's roughly 120 parts after removing 140 years of marine concretion and corrosion.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2016

Instead, by stirring them into its concretion of the oral and the written, the poetic and the prosaic, the local and the global, Texaco made everything I’d ever loved about reading feel new.

From The Guardian • Oct. 15, 2015

There’s no finer tool for the task of shoveling snow—especially when that “snow” is in fact that unique urban concretion of ice, sand, and salt.

From Slate • Feb. 13, 2014

She found sea glass and a fossilized crab leg embedded in a concretion.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson