porphyry
noun
a very hard rock, anciently quarried in Egypt, having a dark, purplish-red groundmass containing small crystals of feldspar.
porphyry
1 American
[pawr-fuh-ree]
/ ˈpɔr fə ri /
noun
-
porphyries
plural
-
a very hard rock, anciently quarried in Egypt, having a dark, purplish-red groundmass containing small crystals of feldspar.
-
Petrology. any igneous rock containing coarse crystals, as phenocrysts, in a finer-grained groundmass.
Porphyry
2
American
[pawr-fuh-ree]
/ ˈpɔr fə ri /
noun
porphyry
1
British
/ ˈpɔːfɪrɪ /
noun
-
any igneous rock with large crystals embedded in a finer groundmass of minerals
-
obsolete a reddish-purple rock consisting of large crystals of feldspar in a finer groundmass of feldspar, hornblende, etc
Porphyry
2
British
/ ˈpɔːfɪrɪ /
noun
porphyry
Scientific
/ pôr′fə-rē /
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of porphyry
1350–1400; Middle English porfurie, porfirie < Medieval Latin porphyreum, alteration of Latin porphyrītēs < Greek porphyrī́tēs porphyry, short for porphyrī́tēs líthos porphyritic (i.e., purplish) stone, equivalent to pórphyr ( os ) purple + -ītēs; see -ite 1
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:
They are clad variously in red porphyry, black basalt, gray granite and yellowish sandstone from nearby Montjuïc, with emblems symbolizing the four evangelists, the 12 apostles and an assortment of Catholic saints and geographic regions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The team's ongoing research shows similar results for identifying porphyry copper deposits.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 24, 2023
It's a square of about 7.5 metres, with a design of interlocking patterns, using inlaid stones, such as purple-coloured porphyry and yellow limestone.
From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2023
The attractions here include a massive ten-sided table with a porphyry top and an elaborate base adorned with large gilt bronze masks of the four seasons.
From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 2018
Like the stadium, most were being clad with natural stone, all of it German—more limestone from Franconia, basalt from the Eifel hills, granite and marble from Silesia, travertine from Thuringia, porphyry from Saxony.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Working with Porphyry Press, a micropublisher based in McCarthy, I spent the past few years researching and writing a history of that rambunctious half-century.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 8, 2022
Porphyry deposits are typically the largest mines on Earth.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017
Porphyry deposits are the most important source of copper and molybdenum in British Columbia, the western United States, and Central and South America.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
Hesiod alludes to it, and the account of the marvellous bird given by Herodotos was “stolen,” we are told by Porphyry, from his predecessor Hekatæos.
From The Egypt of the Hebrews and Herodotos by A. H. (Archibald Henry) Sayce
I had no need to turn to my books of astrology to know that the common people are under the moon, or to Porphyry to remember the image-making power of the waters.
From Where There is Nothing Being Volume I of Plays for an Irish Theatre by W. B. (William Butler) Yeats
Amygdaloid occupies also a very large tract to the north, mingled with porphyries, conglomerates, and various other substances.
From The Conquest of Canada (Vol. 1 of 2) by George Warburton
West of this line the island is composed chiefly of granite, with a large mass of granophyres, quartz porphyries and similar rocks forming the high mountains around Mt.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 4 "Coquelin" to "Costume" by Various
Some of the porphyroids are conglomerate, but the majority are true porphyries, having a homogeneous base.
From The Andes and the Amazon Across the Continent of South America by James Orton
The same forces were probably active in other sections of the island, and the intrusion of Diorite porphyries in Santa Clara and other provinces probably took place during that period.
From The History of Cuba, vol. 1 by Willis Fletcher Johnson
These descriptions denote a range of granite, the rock which forms the ground-floor of the Sierra Leone peninsula and the Gold Coast, possibly varied by syenites and porphyries.
From To The Gold Coast for Gold, Vol. II A Personal Narrative by Sir Richard Francis Burton
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.
