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.
Perhaps this is why the printed tourist information asks visitors to cast their eyes elsewhere and enjoy “the beautiful marmoreal floor realized in 1716 by the artists of murble Francesco Camanlino and Alojsio Mira.”
From New York Times • Sep. 23, 2020
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
Consider St. John in his chilled marmoreal loveliness—“It is seldom, indeed, an English face comes so near the antique models.”
From Slate • Apr. 5, 2016
For Chopin is not the cool breadth and marmoreal majesty of blank verse.
From Chopin : the Man and His Music by Huneker, James
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.
