melanite

[mel-uh-nahyt]

noun

Mineralogy.

1. a deep black variety of andradite garnet.

melanite

/ ˈmɛləˌnaɪt /

noun

1. a black variety of andradite garnet

Other Word Forms

• melanitic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of melanite¹

First recorded in 1800–10; melan- + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

Everything was smothered with a yellowish hue from the deadly lyddite and melanite.

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To andradite may be referred melanite, a black garnet well known from the volcanic tuffs near Rome, used occasionally in the 18th century for mourning jewelry.

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The abundance of melanite is very unusual in igneous rocks, though some syenites, leucitophyres, and aegirine-felsites resemble borolanite in this respect.

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The dark matrix consists of biotite, aegirine-augite and melanite.

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And in fact, what human ear, nose, or stomach could have longer withstood the deafening roar and smoke of melanite explosions beneath our crypts; the sight and stench of mangled bodies piled up within our narrow confines?

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