crystalline
Americanadjective
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of or like crystal; clear; transparent.
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formed by crystallization.
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composed of crystals.
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pertaining to crystals or their formation.
adjective
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having the characteristics or structure of crystals
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consisting of or containing crystals
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made of or like crystal; transparent; clear
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of crystalline
1350–1400; Middle English cristal ( l ) yn ( e ) < Latin crystallinus < Greek krystállinos. See crystal, -ine 1
Explanation
Things that are made of or resemble crystals are crystalline. Crystalline rocks you find on the beach are glittery and reflective, with many symmetrical planes or surfaces. A geologist will use the adjective crystalline very literally, describing crystalline chunks of quartz or the crystalline planes of a salt molecule seen under a microscope. Sometimes the word is also used to mean "extremely clear," like the crystalline prose of a short story or the crystalline forms of your striking black-and-white photography. The Greek source is krystallinos, "of crystal," from kryos, "frost."
Vocabulary lists containing crystalline
Earth Science - Middle School
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Structure and Properties of Matter - Middle School
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Rocks and Minerals - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I considered whipping the miso into cold butter, making a compound butter to scrape over oven-hot sourdough before adding tomato slices and crystalline hunks of salt.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
That’s a smile piece, too, although Ono looks all business holding a crystalline hammer on the catalog cover photo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
"Bristle worm jaws also showed size-dependent elasticity. This is a distinguishing feature of bio-metals when compared to standard crystalline metals like copper or silver," said author Christian Hellmich.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
For those, to put it more generously, pulled in by the simple pleasures and crystalline profundities of the text.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Yet possession of Maurice’s much better crystalline photographs might save us from six months’ to a year’s work.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
