basalt

American  

[buh-sawlt, bas-awlt, bey-sawlt] / bəˈsɔlt, ˈbæs ɔlt, ˈbeɪ sɔlt /

noun

1. the dark, dense igneous rock of a lava flow or minor intrusion, composed essentially of labradorite and pyroxene and often displaying a columnar structure.

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basalt British  

/ ˈbæsɔːlt /

noun

1. a fine-grained dark basic igneous rock consisting of plagioclase feldspar, a pyroxene, and olivine: the most common volcanic rock and usually extrusive See flood basalt

2. a form of black unglazed pottery resembling basalt

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basalt Scientific  

/ bə-sôlt′,bā′sôlt′ /

1. A dark, fine-grained, igneous rock consisting mostly of plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene, and sometimes olivine. Basalt makes up most of the ocean floor and is the most common type of lava. It sometimes cools into characteristic hexagonal columns, as in the Giant's Causeway in Anterim, Northern Island. It is the fine-grained equivalent of gabbro.

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basalt Cultural  

1. A hard, dense igneous rock that makes up much of the material in tectonic plates. The part of the Earth's crust beneath the oceans consists mainly of basalt whereas continental crust consists mainly of less dense rocks, such as granite. (See plate tectonics.)

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Other Word Forms

• basaltic adjective
• basaltine adjective
• subbasaltic adjective

Etymology

Origin of basalt

1595–1605; < Latin basaltēs, a misreading, in manuscripts of Pliny, of basanītēs < Greek basanī́tēs ( líthos ) touchstone, equivalent to básan ( os ) touchstone (ultimately < Egyptian bh̬n ( w ) graywacke) + -ītēs -ite ¹

Compare meaning

How does basalt compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• gabbro vs. basalt

Example Sentences

BOISE, Idaho—Each afternoon at around 4:30, the earth here shakes from a series of controlled explosions, as engineers blast through basalt bedrock to flatten out the ground underneath a gigantic new semiconductor factory.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 2026

The worst affected are the basalt columns that make up The Loom – 10 ft high leaning towers of rock.

From BBC • May 27, 2025

One such approach, called enhanced rock weathering, involves spreading finely ground silicate rocks, like basalt, on the ground or the ocean, which absorb carbon dioxide from the air as they weather in the rain.

From Salon • Jul. 18, 2024

"Based on the Hg-isotope variations we were able to link an initial pulse in Hg enrichment at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary to the emission of mercury from flood basalt volcanism," Wang Zheng explains.

From Science Daily • Apr. 30, 2024

The wind had blown the ash from the ice and the ice was black and the creek looked like a path of basalt winding through the woods.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

Related Words

• magma
• slag