stalactites
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Stalactites grow very slowly.
One easy way to distinguish stalactites from stalagmites is to recall that stalactites “hold tight” to the ceiling of a cave. Stalagmites “might reach the ceiling” of the cave and form a column.
Example Sentences
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These included the chemical signatures preserved in stalactites and stalagmites from two Indian caves and water level histories recorded in five lakes across northwest India.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 14, 2025
Engineer Guillermo D. Christy looks upon the once immaculate cave, now coated with a layer of concrete and broken stalactites, icicle-shaped rock formations normally hanging from the roof of the cave.
From Seattle Times ● May 30, 2024
The stalactites - hundreds of mineral formations hanging like melted candle wax above us which naturally filtrate the rainwater - are being clogged by cement dust, he says.
From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2023
This illusion is especially strong when looking at stalactites, the mineral formations dangling from a cavern’s ceiling.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2023
Above them, the stalactites began to grow larger.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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.
