trachyte

American  

[trey-kahyt, trak-ahyt] / ˈtreɪ kaɪt, ˈtræk aɪt /

noun

1. a fine-grained volcanic rock consisting essentially of alkali feldspar and one or more subordinate minerals, as hornblende or mica: the extrusive equivalent of syenite.

---

trachyte British  

/ ˈtrækɪˌtɔɪd, ˈtræ-, ˈtreɪ-, ˈtreɪkaɪt /

noun

1. a light-coloured fine-grained volcanic rock of rough texture consisting of feldspars with small amounts of pyroxene or amphibole

---

trachyte Scientific  

/ trā′kīt′,trăk′īt′ /

1. A light-colored, fine-grained igneous rock consisting primarily of alkali feldspar together with some mafic minerals, especially hornblende. Unlike most igneous rocks, trachyte has little or no quartz. Trachyte is the fine-grained equivalent of syenite.

---

Other Word Forms

• trachytic adjective
• trachytoid adjective

Etymology

Origin of trachyte

1815–25; < French < Greek trāchýtēs roughness, equivalent to trāchý ( s ) rough + -tēs noun suffix

Example Sentences

Now, after years of protests and problems, the city has decided to replace the translucent glass with less slippery — and less glamorous — trachyte stone.

From New York Times • Jan. 2, 2022

Its composition is peculiar, as it is chiefly formed of small pieces of pumice, obsidian, and trachyte, in beds alternating with loam, ferriferous sand, and fragments of limestone.

From Volcanoes: Past and Present by Hull, Edward

Toward the desert, we met beds of conglomerate and trachyte, and mountains covered with slide-rock, ringing flint-like clinkers from some great volcanic furnace.

From Hunting in Many Lands The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club by Various

Walls of grey slate and trachyte, and the yellow stuff is good and plenty.

From The Trail of a Sourdough Life in Alaska by Sullivan, May Kellogg

They are chiefly leucite and nepheline rocks, such as leucitite, leucitophyre and nephelinite, but basalt and trachyte also occur.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 2 "Ehud" to "Electroscope" by Various