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Plinian

British  
/ ˈplɪnɪən /

adjective

  1. geology (of a volcanic eruption) characterized by repeated explosions

"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

Etymology

Origin of Plinian

C20: named after Pliny the Younger, who described such eruptions

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.

See Examples For:

A 550-year-old Plinian eruption at El Chichón Volcano, Chiapas, Mexico: explosive volcanism linked to reheating of the magma reservoir.

From Nature Dec. 12, 2017

The mountain is at Alert Level 2: A full-scale Plinian eruption may be unlikely, but smaller events would be very hard to predict.

From Slate Feb. 29, 2012

Edinburgh, Plinian Society,  13;Royal Medical Society,  14; Wernerian Society,  14; lectures on Geology and Zoology in,  14. ——, studies at,  11-15.

From Charles Darwin: His Life in an Autobiographical Chapter, and in a Selected Series of His Published Letters by Charles Darwin

A notice of the ciliated germs of Flustra, communicated to the Plinian Society in 1826, was the first fruits of Darwin's half century of scientific work.

From Darwiniana : Essays — Volume 02 by Thomas Henry Huxley

I never could come into the custom of envelopes; 'tis a modern foppery; the Plinian correspondence gives no hint of such.

From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 6 Letters 1821-1842 by Mary Lamb

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