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  

/ 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

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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

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

Here the rock is a vesicular trachyte, of a greyish colour, solidified in vertical columns of hexagonal form, about four feet in diameter, and traversed by transverse joint planes.

From Volcanoes: Past and Present by Hull, Edward

Some of these are composed of trachyte, others of compact blue basalt with olivine.

From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir

When crystalline grains or blebs of quartz occur, we have a quartz-trachyte; when tridymite is abundant, as in the trachyte of Co.

From Volcanoes: Past and Present by Hull, Edward

The beds of trachyte break off in precipitous scarps, and being of great thickness and perfectly horizontal, are unusually conspicuous.

From Volcanoes: Past and Present by Hull, Edward