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• granite
  granite

  noun

  a coarse-grained igneous rock composed chiefly of orthoclase and albite feldspars and of quartz, usually with lesser amounts of one or more other minerals, as mica, hornblende, or augite.
• granité
  granité

  noun

  ice.

granite

¹ American  

[gran-it] / ˈgræn ɪt /

noun

1. a coarse-grained igneous rock composed chiefly of orthoclase and albite feldspars and of quartz, usually with lesser amounts of one or more other minerals, as mica, hornblende, or augite.

2. anything compared to this rock in great hardness, firmness, or durability.

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granité ² American  

[gran-i-tay, grah-ni-, gra-nee-tay] / ˌgræn ɪˈteɪ, ˌgrɑ nɪ-, gra niˈteɪ /

noun

French Cooking.

1. ice.

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granite British  

/ ˈɡrænɪt /

noun

1. a light-coloured coarse-grained acid plutonic igneous rock consisting of quartz, feldspars, and such ferromagnesian minerals as biotite or hornblende: widely used for building

2. great hardness, endurance, or resolution

3. another name for a stone

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granite Scientific  

/ grăn′ĭt /

1. A usually light-colored, coarse-grained igneous rock consisting mostly of quartz, orthoclase feldspar, sodium-rich plagioclase feldspar, and micas. Quartz usually makes up 10 to 50 percent of the light-colored minerals in granite, with the remaining minerals consisting of the feldspars and muscovite. The darker minerals in granite are usually biotite and hornblende. Granite is one of the most common rocks in the crust of continents, and is formed by the slow, underground cooling of magma.

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granite Cultural  

1. A relatively lightweight igneous rock that makes up most of the Earth's crust beneath the continents. (See basalt, plate tectonics, and tectonic plates.)

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Other Word Forms

• granite-like
  adjective
• granitelike
  adjective
• granitic
  adjective
• pregranitic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of granite¹

First recorded in 1640–50, granite is from the Italian word granito grainy. See grain, -ite ¹

Origin of granité²

From French

Compare meaning

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

• gneiss vs. granite

Explanation

Granite is a type of rock that's commonly polished smooth and used for things like kitchen counters. Granite is dark and textured, with swirls of lighter colors. Granite is such a popular material in kitchens, as well as memorial stones and statues, because it is very strong and can be polished to a high shine. It's sturdy enough that granite is also commonly used to construct tall buildings and to cover floors in commercial areas. The word comes from the Italian granito, which means "grained" and is rooted in the Latin word for "grain," granum.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

granite granité

Below, a circle of polished black granite set within green marble mirrors the dome — a reference to Albuquerque’s 1989 public artwork, “Site, Memory, Reflection,” and to the architecture of her Tunisian childhood.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

Entirely self-sufficient, the National Trust-owned island relies on a combination of rainwater and boreholes drilled into the granite for supplies.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

For the six-story glass rotunda that serves as the entrance, architects picked wood from the Republic of Congo and white granite from India’s Kashmir.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Meanwhile, the kitchen features granite countertops and oak cabinetry and opens into a dining area.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026

In the moldy old Crane plot was a wide granite headstone that joined three graves—like a triple bed, you might say.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

And the jiggly, just-set cardamom panna cotta with crystals of rhubarb granité on top.

From New York Times ● Jun. 23, 2015

The nicest thing I can say about the long winter is that it allowed her citrus salad with tapioca pudding and orange-blossom granité to stay on the menu until May.

From New York Times ● May 27, 2014

For dessert, there was a gold-flecked slab of chocolate with ginger ice cream on the side to start, and some litchi granité accompanied by the tart rosehip jam.

From New York Times ● May 25, 2011