diabase
Americannoun
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a fine-grained gabbro occurring as minor intrusions.
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British. a dark igneous rock consisting essentially of augite and feldspar; an altered dolerite.
noun
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an altered dolerite
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another name for dolerite
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A dark-gray to black, medium-grained igneous rock consisting mainly of labradorite and pyroxene. Diabase is compositionally similar to andesite, but has coarser grains. It is commonly found in sills and dikes.
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Also called dolerite
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of diabase
1810–20; < French, equivalent to dia- (error for di- two) + base base 1
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.
It is traversed in places by dikes and sills of diabase or dolerite, while bosses of more or less altered gabbro rise through it.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 6 "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad" by Various
The best-known locality is Fronolen near Tremadoc in North Wales, where crystals of the thin tabular habit occur with crystallized quartz, albite and anatase on the walls of crevices in diabase.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" by Various
The igneous rocks themselves furnish desirable building stones, such as granite, diorite, porphyry, diabase, etc.
From North America by Israel C. (Cook) Russell
Quartz porphyry, diabase and diorite appear in the Ardennes.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 1 "Calhoun" to "Camoens" by Various
In west central Europe volcanic rocks are found at many horizons, the most common rocks are diabases and diabase tuffs, schalstein.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 3 "Destructors" to "Diameter" by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
