metamorphosed limestone, consisting chiefly of recrystallized calcite or dolomite, capable of taking a high polish, occurring in a wide range of colors and variegations and used in sculpture and architecture.
any variety of this stone.
Carrara marble.
an object made of or carved from this stone, especially a sculpture.
Renaissance marbles.
a piece of this stone.
the fallen marbles of Roman ruins.
(not in technical use) any of various breccias or other stones that take a high polish and show a variegated pattern.
a marbled appearance or pattern; marbling.
The woodwork had a greenish marble.
anything resembling marble in hardness, coldness, smoothness, etc..
a brow of marble.
something lacking in warmth or feeling.
a little ball made of stone, baked clay, glass, porcelain, agate, or steel, especially for use in games.
(used with a singular verb) marbles, a game for children in which a marble is propelled by the thumb to hit another marble so as to drive it out of a circle drawn or scratched on the ground.
Slang. marbles, normal rational faculties; sanity; wits; common sense.
to have all one's marbles; to lose one's marbles.
consisting or made of marble.
like marble, as in hardness, coldness, smoothness, etc.
lacking in warmth, compassion, or sympathy.
marble heart.
of variegated or mottled color.
to color or stain like variegated marble.
to apply a decorative pattern to (paper, the edges of a book, etc.) by transferring oil pigments floating on water.
a hard crystalline metamorphic rock resulting from the recrystallization of a limestone: takes a high polish and is used for building and sculpture
( as modifier )
a marble bust
a block or work of art of marble
a small round glass or stone ball used in playing marbles
informal to succeed or do the right thing
informal to die
cold, hard, or unresponsive
white like some kinds of marble
1150–1200; Middle English marbel, dissimilated variant of Old English marmel (in marmelstān marble stone) < Latin marmor < Greek mármaros, akin to marmaírein to sparkle
Marble is a very hard rock that's a particular type of limestone. Fancy lobbies (and even bathrooms) are often lined with marble. Marble's unique qualities make it a popular stone for artists and kitchen designers alike — the white stone statues you find in most museums, some of them dating back to ancient Greece and Rome, are carved from white marble. High-end kitchen counters are often made from polished slabs of darker colored marble. A single marble is a glass ball swirled with marble-like colors, and "to marble" is to paint with similar swirls and whorls.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A rare marble sculpture could fetch up to £18,000 at auction after it spent more than seven decades sitting outside, mistaken for a garden ornament.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Though Cooper has yet to issue a ruling, officials have now come up with 10 different ways using similar language to install Trump’s name on the exterior marble.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Do you like the imported marble floors and silk window treatments?
From Slate ● Sep. 12, 2026
A desire to reveal something just beneath the visible surface is manifest throughout, from the chiaroscuro studies of marble elevator banks to empty stairwells that spiral out of sight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
It was larger than most, standing just over fifteen feet high and carved from marble to mimic the famous Trevi Fountain in Italy.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Among them are Tehran's Marble Palace, the Teymourtash house and the sprawling Saadabad Palace complex in northern Tehran, a former royal residence set within a vast park and home to several museums.
From Barron's ● May 10, 2026
A child of immigrants, Vargas grew up in Marble Hill a neighborhood close to Inwood and Washington Heights, areas collectively known as little Dominican Republic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
Police received a report at about 21:55 GMT on Tuesday of a collision between a Toyota Yaris and a Volkswagen Amorok on the Marble Arch Road in Enniskillen.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026
But those readers who have discovered “The Marble Faun,” his shadowy and mystic last novel, know a very different writer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
Just as the theme song from The Big Blue Marble begins, the four of us sing along: The earth's a big blue marble when you see it from out there.
From "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson
It featured a futuristic barren desert-like landscape filled with sand punctuated by large colored glass bulbs that resemble marbles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
To confirm he still has his marbles, he was asked to draw a clock face displaying the time 10 minutes after 11.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
But in daily life, ordinary objects such as rocks, dust, or marbles appear to follow the predictable laws of classical physics, staying in one place and moving along defined paths.
From Science Daily ● May 11, 2026
"The other founders refused to turn the keys of artificial intelligence over to one person," Savitt continued, adding: "When they refused to let OpenAI be absorbed" Musk "took his marbles and went home."
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
A few days later, the gang and I were knee-deep in dirt, playing a game of marbles, when a barefoot girl with pigtails came running up to me.
From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm
"When a dam blocks stream passage, threatened and endangered salmon suffer; when forests with nesting trees for marbled murrelets are logged, threatened murrelets slide closer to extinction," the complaint said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
A report from Earthjustice estimates that expanded oil drilling in California could threaten five marine species including humpback whales, sea otters, leatherback sea turtles, marbled murrelets and wild salmon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
A travel set of marbled beard and mustache combs that’s as handsome as dad himself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Turkey's home strip features a marbled pattern, inspired by the Turkish paper marbling art of Ebru.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
The power-up is a marbled sphere, so red it looks like it was dipped in blood.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
Their meat is regularly likened to snowflakes, in part because of the intricate patterns in its fat marbling, but also for the way that it dissolves in your mouth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
Turkey's home strip features a marbled pattern, inspired by the Turkish paper marbling art of Ebru.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
Does it require attention to marbling and dry aging?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2025
On May 15, Guilfoyle uploaded a video of herself standing over a smoking indoor grill, flipping thin cuts with little visible marbling over the flames.
From Salon ● May 17, 2022
Overhead, the golden streaks marbling the clouds tarnished first to bronze, then to indigo.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
