olivine
Americannoun
noun
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Also called: chrysolite. an olive-green mineral of the olivine group, found in igneous and metamorphic rocks. The clear-green variety (peridot) is used as a gemstone. Composition: magnesium iron silicate. Formula: (MgFe) 2 SiO 4 . Crystal structure: orthorhombic
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any mineral in the group having the general formula (Mg,Fe,Mn,Ca) 2 SiO 4
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An olive-green to brownish-green orthorhombic mineral. Olivine is a common mineral in the igneous rocks, such as basalt and gabbro, that make up most of the Earth's crust beneath the oceans. Chemical formula: (Mg,Fe) 2 SiO 4 .
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◆ Olivine in which the mafic component consists entirely of magnesium is called forsterite. Chemical formula: Mg 2 SiO 4 .
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◆ Olivine in which the mafic component consists entirely of iron is called fayalite. Chemical formula: Fe 2 SiO 4 .
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of olivine
1785–95; < German Olivin, equivalent to Olive olive + -in -ine 2
Vocabulary lists containing olivine
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.
However, the team identifies a different class of relatively pristine asteroids that display olivine and spinel signatures as more promising mining targets.
From Science Daily • Dec. 25, 2025
They are produced in a number of ways but the main process involves the interaction of ground water with iron-rich minerals such as olivine.
From BBC • Dec. 11, 2023
One, Project Vesta, in 2022 spread an alkaline mineral called olivine on a Long Island beach to test whether that would result in more alkaline waters as waves wash the material out to sea.
From Science Magazine • Nov. 30, 2023
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution geochemist Forrest Horton discovered helium isotope ratios in olivine samples from the Baffin lava fields that had up to 50 times the concentrations found in atmospheric levels.
From Salon • Oct. 24, 2023
When these rocks become fine-grained they pass gradually into ophitic diabase and dolerite; only very rarely does olivine enclose 378 felspar in this way.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 4 "G" to "Gaskell, Elizabeth" by Various
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.
