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calcareous

American  
[kal-kair-ee-uhs] / kælˈkɛər i əs /

adjective

  1. of, containing, or like calcium carbonate; chalky.

    calcareous earth.


calcareous British  
/ kælˈkɛərɪəs /

adjective

  1. of, containing, or resembling calcium carbonate; chalky

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

calcareous Scientific  
/ kăl-kârē-əs /
  1. Composed of or containing calcium or calcium carbonate. Calcareous rocks contain as much as 50 percent calcium carbonate.


Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of calcareous

1670–80; variant of calcarious < Latin calcārius of lime; see calx, -ary ( def. )

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.

See Examples For:

"Quarries provide valuable habitats for wild bees and other animals and plants that occur on the now rare calcareous grasslands," explains lead author Dr Felix Kirsch from the Institute of Biodiversity at the Thünen Institute.

From Science Daily Dec. 4, 2024

It was found that old quarries that were well connected to neighbouring calcareous grasslands had more stable populations of endangered species.

From Science Daily Dec. 4, 2024

Though I had to swallow some disappointment to see it, Abbé’s fumaroles, built up over millennia by the accretion of calcareous mineral deposits, still presented an astonishing panorama.

From New York Times Apr. 8, 2019

These are the familiar coral reefs, built by tiny colonial animals that farm symbiotic algae inside their calcareous skeletons and form mounds, branches, fingers, plates, and encrustations.

From Science Magazine Mar. 2, 2017

“He had to move back,” Yossarian argued in a vain effort to cheer up the glum, barrel-chested Indian, whose well-knit sorrel-red face had degenerated rapidly into a dilapidated, calcareous gray.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

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