marmoreal
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of marmoreal
1790–1800; < Latin marmore ( us ) made of marble ( see marble, -eous) + -al 1
Explanation
Anything marmoreal is smooth and white or otherwise characteristic of marble, like a pale face or a tombstone. Marmoreal is an old-fashioned, fancy word for "marble-like." It describes anything that resembles marble in appearance or quality. This could be a statue with a polished, smooth surface or an elegant building with marble-like columns. You can use the adjective to describe people as well — especially if they're a bit pale or rigid in appearance.
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.
The marmoreal perfections of its verse seemed to reflect the grand façades of the Roman state itself: Augustus boasted that he found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 8, 2018
Then there’s the marmoreal serenity of the shoulder lines.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 9, 2018
She quotes Montaigne even more than Kalanithi does, but to her, he is not a marmoreal Great Writer, but a companion, the chatty, brilliant, worldly friend at her elbow.
From Slate • Jul. 5, 2017
It is, with almost all these dancers, marmoreal.
From New York Times • Jul. 15, 2012
The assuaging, marmoreal majesty of the concluding lines of the poem are a final demonstration of the virtue of this formal dignity in poetry.
From The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) and Two Rambler papers (1750) by Johnson, Samuel
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.
