alabaster

[al-uh-bas-ter, -bah-ster]

noun

1. a finely granular variety of gypsum, often white and translucent, used for ornamental objects or work, such as lamp bases, figurines, etc.

2. Also called Oriental alabaster. a variety of calcite, often banded, used or sold as alabaster.

adjective

1. made of alabaster.

   an alabaster column.

2. resembling alabaster; smooth and white.

   her alabaster throat.

alabaster

/ -ˌbæstə, ˈæləˌbɑːstə /

noun

1. a fine-grained usually white, opaque, or translucent variety of gypsum used for statues, vases, etc

2. a variety of hard semitranslucent calcite, often banded like marble

adjective

1. of or resembling alabaster

Other Word Forms

• alabastrine adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of alabaster¹

1350–1400; < Latin < Greek alábastros; replacing Middle English alabastre < Middle French < Latin

Word History and Origins

Origin of alabaster¹

C14: from Old French alabastre, from Latin alabaster, from Greek alabastros

Example Sentences

The infamous “waxworks” scene captures silent-era figures like Buster Keaton playing cards, their faces pure funereal alabaster.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Artefacts, including fragments of alabaster jars which bore the inscriptions of the names of Thutmose II and Hatshepsut, provided definitive evidence.

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The king stares intently into an eternal distance through composite orbs fashioned from alabaster and glass, rendered in varying degrees of clarity, transparency and opacity.

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"There were fluted columns in African marble, alabaster columns, and stucco ornamentation decorated with gold leaf."

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She reads a couple of very vivid paragraphs about the “whiter-than-white, nearly alabaster, snowy, bleached Alps” in Switzerland, where her family went on vacation.

Read more on Literature

Related Words

• porcelain