nephelinite

American

[nef-uh-luh-nahyt] / ˈnɛf ə ləˌnaɪt /

noun

Petrography.

a fine-grained, dark rock of volcanic origin, essentially a basalt containing nepheline but no feldspar and little or no olivine.

nephelinite British

/ ˈnɛfɪlɪˌnaɪt /

noun

a fine-grained basic laval rock consisting of pyroxene and nepheline

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

nephelinitic

adjective

Etymology

Origin of nephelinite

First recorded in 1860–65; nepheline + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

nephelinite

They are chiefly leucite and nepheline rocks, such as leucitite, leucitophyre and nephelinite, but basalt and trachyte also occur.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 2 "Ehud" to "Electroscope" by Various

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023