striation

American  

[strahy-ey-shuhn] / straɪˈeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. striated condition or appearance.

2. a stria; one of many parallel striae.

3. Geology. any of a number of scratches or parallel grooves on the surface of a rock, resulting from the action of moving ice, as of a glacier.

4. Cell Biology. any of the alternating light and dark crossbands that are visible in certain muscle fibers, especially of voluntary muscles, and are produced by the distribution of contractile proteins.

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striation British  

/ straɪˈeɪʃən /

noun

1. an arrangement or pattern of striae

2. the condition of being striate

3. another word for stria

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striation Scientific  

/ strī-ā′shən /

1. One of multiple, usually parallel grooves or scratches on a rock surface, produced by abrasion associated with glacial movement, stream flow, a geologic fault, or meteoric impact.

2. See more at glacial striation shatter cone slickenside

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Other Word Forms

• interstriation
  noun

Etymology

Origin of striation

First recorded in 1840–50; striate + -ion

Explanation

If the rock you found on the beach has a deep striation, it means there's an engraved stripe or groove running across it. If the word stripes seems too fun and informal for your descriptive needs, you might want to try striations, which is tech talk for the same thing. Striation likes to keep company with other technical words like longitudinal and transverse, more commonly known as lengthwise and across. The Latin root of striation, stria, means "furrow, channel, or flute of a column."

Example Sentences

Striation across a burst of bougainvillea draws attention to itself, reminding the viewer of the work and chemistry that went into creating it.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 26, 2017

Related Words

• fiber