crystallite

American

[kris-tl-ahyt] / ˈkrɪs tlˌaɪt /

noun

Mineralogy.

a minute body in glassy igneous rock, showing incipient crystallization.

crystallite British

/ ˈkrɪstəˌlaɪt /

noun

any of the minute rudimentary or imperfect crystals occurring in many glassy rocks

"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

Other Word Forms

crystallitic

adjective

Etymology

Origin of crystallite

First recorded in 1795–1805; crystall- + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

crystallite

How or why these crystallite needles are helically organized remains an unanswered question.

From Scientific American ● May 3, 2018

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023