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.

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trachyte British  

/ ˈtreɪkaɪt, ˈtræ-, ˈtreɪ- /

noun

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

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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.

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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

See Examples For:

trachyte

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

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

Jasper abounds in the trachyte and dolomite, and large blocks, of beautiful variety, are found in some districts.

From Rambles in the Islands of Corsica and Sardinia with Notices of their History, Antiquities, and Present Condition. by Thomas Forester

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 Edward Hull

The trachyte of the Drachenfels was probably the neck of a volcano which burst through the fundamental schists of the Devonian period.

From Volcanoes: Past and Present by Edward Hull