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.
Arching over the emerald basin are walls of stalactites dripping down the cavern ceiling, which opens to a dense jungle.
From Seattle Times • May 30, 2024
They grow as mineral-rich waters seep through the ground above and drop from the tips of stalactites on cave ceilings.
From Science Daily • Oct. 2, 2023
The bow, now covered in stalactites of rust, is still instantly recognisable even 100 years after the ship was lost.
From BBC • May 17, 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
The cavern ceiling was so high above us it might’ve been a bank of storm clouds, except for the stalactites, which glowed faint gray and looked wickedly pointed.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
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.
