Showing results for smectite. Search instead for tectite.

smectite

American

[smek-tahyt] / ˈsmɛkˌtaɪt /

noun

Mineralogy.

montmorillonite.

smectite British

/ ˈsmɛktaɪt /

noun

any of a group of clay minerals of which montmorillonite and saponite are members

"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 smectite

1805–15; < Greek smēkt ( ós ) smeared + -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.

Through a series of analyses, the researchers showed that smectite was likely produced after several major tectonic events over the last 500 million years.

From Science Daily • Nov. 30, 2023

Sorting out the food problem may also take time, but within several months someone might have been able to knock up a polytunnel to grow a couple of undersized cabbages in the smectite clay.

From The Guardian • Aug. 4, 2015

For example, pyroxene can be converted to the clay minerals chlorite or smectite, and olivine can be converted to the clay mineral serpentine.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

In one place, these clays are of an iron-rich variety called smectite.

From BBC • Jan. 24, 2014

The American Bottom clay, known as smectite clay, is especially prone to swelling: its volume can increase by a factor of eight.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

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