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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
The metal structure is being eaten away by microbes, creating stalactites of rust called rusticles.
From BBC • Sep. 1, 2024
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
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.
