pumice
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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pumices,
present (3rd person singular)
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pumiced,
past participle, past
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pumicing
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pumicesimple
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pumicessimple
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have pumicedperfect
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has pumicedperfect
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am pumicingprogressive
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are pumicingprogressive
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is pumicingprogressive
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have been pumicingperfect progressive
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has been pumicingperfect progressive
Past
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pumicedsimple
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had pumicedperfect
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was pumicingprogressive
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were pumicingprogressive
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had been pumicingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pumice
First recorded before 1000; from Latin pūmic-, stem of pūmex “pumice stone”; replacing Middle English pomis(e), pomish(e), pomice, from Middle French pomis, from Latin; compare Old English pumic- (from Latin ), in pumicstān “pumice stone”; see pounce 3
Compare meaning
How does pumice compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Pumice is a very light stone that comes from volcanic rock. Formed from lava, pumice is porous, or full of tiny holes. It may sound exotic, but you can buy one at the drug store and scrub your feet with it. The pumice found by a geologist or displayed in a museum exhibit about volcanoes is the same material as the pumice stones that you'd use to smooth the callouses off your feet. Pumice is also useful for "aging" denim (or making stone-washed jeans), and it's included in objects like pencil erasers and cinder blocks. The word comes from the Latin pumex, which shares a root with "foam."
Vocabulary lists containing pumice
Earth Science - Middle School
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Earth Science - High School
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Rocks and Minerals - Middle School and High School
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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:
To investigate, researchers analyzed 17 samples of volcanic pumice from Laacher See deposits.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 20, 2026
He died at Stabiae, a few miles south of Pompeii, gazing over a sea rendered unnavigable by pumice and strong opposing winds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
The Paiute-Shoshone Indians later chipped away at the red pumice stone, which exposed the lighter rock minerals underneath, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2025
Besides the acids and bacteria, the balls also contained volcanic rock pumice.
From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2025
The pumice rock minefield was dotted with stubborn weeds armed with sharp thistles, which poked up through the cheap layer of thin black plastic under the brick- colored lava bits.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
The upper Piton is unfitted for retaining water, which must percolate through its cinders, pumices, and loose matter into many a reservoir formed by blowing-holes.
From To the Gold Coast for Gold A Personal Narrative in Two Volumes.—Volume I by Sir Richard Francis Burton
Donkeys usually keep their hooves naturally pumiced by foraging for long miles over rocky ground.
From New York Times ● Nov. 17, 2016
Her pumiced spear at the ready, Sosie crouched behind the bush to watch and wait.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
The horse would be equally free from "drop" and "pumiced" sole, seedy toe, thrush, and kindred complaints.
From Rational Horse-Shoeing by John E. Russell
Still craving on some stall to stand, Fresh pumiced from the binder's hand.
From Collected Poems In Two Volumes, Vol. II by Austin Dobson
Her oars, eighty-seven to the side, pumiced white and hurling out the spray, are leaping back and forth in perfect unison.
From A Day in Old Athens; a Picture of Athenian Life by William Stearns Davis
I decided to ham it up, doing my best Michael Jackson moonwalk, pumicing my bare feet as I dragged them awkwardly across concrete.
From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2023
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.
