texture

American  

[teks-cher] / ˈtɛks tʃər /

noun

1. the visual and especially tactile quality of a surface.

   rough texture.

2. the characteristic structure of the interwoven or intertwined threads, strands, or the like, that make up a textile fabric.

   coarse texture.

3. the characteristic physical structure given to a material, an object, etc., by the size, shape, arrangement, and proportions of its parts.

   soil of a sandy texture; a cake with a heavy texture.

4. an essential or characteristic quality; essence.

5. Fine Arts.

   1. the characteristic visual and tactile quality of the surface of a work of art resulting from the way in which the materials are used.

   2. the imitation of the tactile quality of represented objects.

6. the quality given, as to a musical or literary work, by the combination or interrelation of parts or elements.

7. a rough or grainy surface quality.

8. anything produced by weaving; woven fabric.

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verb (used with object)

textured, texturing

1. to give texture or a particular texture to.

2. to make by or as if by weaving.

texture British  

/ ˈtɛkstʃə /

noun

1. the surface of a material, esp as perceived by the sense of touch

   a wall with a rough texture

2. the structure, appearance, and feel of a woven fabric

3. the general structure and disposition of the constituent parts of something

   the texture of a cake

4. the distinctive character or quality of something

   the texture of life in America

5. the nature of a surface other than smooth

   woollen cloth has plenty of texture

6. art the representation of the nature of a surface

   the painter caught the grainy texture of the sand

7. 1. music considered as the interrelationship between the horizontally presented aspects of melody and rhythm and the vertically represented aspect of harmony

      a contrapuntal texture

   2. the nature and quality of the instrumentation of a passage, piece, etc

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verb

1. (tr) to give a distinctive usually rough or grainy texture to

texture Scientific  

/ tĕks′chər /

1. The general physical appearance of a rock, especially with respect to the size, shape, size variability, and geometric arrangement of its mineral crystals (for igneous and metamorphic rocks) and of its constituent elements (for sedimentary rocks). A sandstone that forms as part of an eolian (wind-blown) deposit, for example, has a texture that reflects its small, rounded sand grains of uniform size, while a sandstone that formed as part of a fluvial deposit has a texture reflecting the presence of grains of varying sizes, with some more rounded than others.

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Other Word Forms

• nontextural adjective
• nontexturally adverb
• retexture verb (used with object)
• semitextural adjective
• semitexturally adverb
• textural adjective
• texturally adverb
• textureless adjective
• untextural adjective

Etymology

Origin of texture

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin textūra web, equivalent to text ( us ) (past participle of texere to weave) + -ūra -ure

Example Sentences

To piece together what is happening below, scientists examine lava flows, rock textures, and minerals left behind at the surface.

From Science Daily

The texture of the crest and the network of blood vessel channels inside it indicate that it was covered in keratin, the same material found in human fingernails.

From Science Daily

Now, at 38, she’s returned with a bracingly honest record full of the texture and detail of her life as a wife, sister and mother of four.

From Los Angeles Times

They retain much of their texture and don’t turn into “mush” when cooked, Matijevich says.

From Salon

They have a mixture of things that — whether it’s for the color, or the texture — I feel that I can recycle and fit into an art object that I’m making.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• balance
• character
• composition
• consistency
• fabric
• feeling
• makeup
• nature
• pattern
• quality
• sense
• smoothness
• structure
• surface
• taste
• touch