stalactite
Americannoun
noun
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A cylindrical or conical mineral deposit projecting downward from the roof of a cave or cavern, formed by the dripping of water saturated with minerals. Stalactites form gradually as the minerals precipitate out of the saturated water. They usually consist of calcite but can also consist of other minerals.
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Compare stalagmite
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of stalactite
1670–80; < New Latin stalactites < Greek stalakt ( ós ) dripping ( stalag-, stem of stalássein to drip + -tos verbid suffix) + New Latin -ites -ite 1
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How does stalactite compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Bats and stalactites like to hang out in caves. Those pointed pieces of rock that dangle from the roof of a cave are called stalactites. Most stalactites are primarily made of limestone or lava. Bats? Flesh and blood. Stalactites are the mineral formations that hang down like rock icicles, while stalagmites rise up from the floor. The word stalactite comes from the Greek word for "dripping," stalaktos, which in turn comes from the verb stalassein, "to trickle," which is how stalactites are formed. Water comes down through the top of the cave, bringing rock minerals with it that eventually form those pointy stalactites.
Vocabulary lists containing stalactite
Physical Geography - Introductory
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Physical Geography - Middle School
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Physical Geography - 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.
The crowd drowns in the second-long tension as they sit below teardrop-shaped papier-mâché stalactite hanging from handmade alien geodes on the ceiling.
From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026
They were found in a near-inaccessible crevice by a team photographing an ancient inscription on a stalactite.
From BBC • Sep. 6, 2023
We also loved Luray Caverns in Virginia, where we’d gaze in awe at a stalactite formation called the Cathedral, with a “Stalacpipe Organ.”
From Washington Post • Sep. 14, 2017
Meryl Streep, as the fashion editor with ice-pick eyes and a stalactite heart in The Devil Wears Prada, is a great New York movie villain but she’s no kind of role model.
From The Guardian • Aug. 16, 2015
She had toured a cave with her family once, and the sight reminded her of water dripping from a stalactite.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
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.
