azoic

¹ American  

[uh-zoh-ik, ey-] / əˈzoʊ ɪk, eɪ- /

adjective

Geology.

1. (formerly) noting or pertaining to the Precambrian Era, especially that part formerly believed to precede the first appearance of life; Archean.

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azoic ² American  

[a-zoh-ik] / æˈzoʊ ɪk /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the azo group.

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azoic British  

/ eɪ-, əˈzəʊɪk /

adjective

1. without life; characteristic of the ages that have left no evidence of life in the form of organic remains

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Etymology

Origin of azoic¹

1840–50; < Greek ázō ( os ) lifeless ( see azo-) + -ic

Origin of azoic²

azo- + -ic

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

azoic

Scientists long ago clung to the "azoic hypothesis" about the deep -- the presumption that nothing could possibly be alive so far from the photosynthetic world.

From Washington Post ● May 16, 2010

He has explored portions of that continent as far down as the azoic rocks, and made many important discoveries as to the past life of the globe.

From Life: Its True Genesis by Wright, R. W.

If the great deposit of "red clay" now forming in the eastern valley of the Atlantic were metamorphosed into slate and then upheaved, it would constitute an "azoic" rock of enormous extent.

From Discourses Biological and Geological Essays by Huxley, Thomas Henry

The tertiary formation is followed by an azoic formation of gneiss, mica slate, and phylada with large intrusions of granite.

From Guatemala, the country of the future by Pepper, Charles M.

Being azoic these Laurentians are older than the first age when our remotest ancestors appeared in the earliest of animal forms, millions and millions of years ago.

From Animal Sanctuaries in Labrador An Address Presented by Lt.-Colonel William Wood, F.R.S.C. before the Second Annual Meeting of the Commission of Conservation at Quebec, January, 1911 by Wood, William Charles Henry