vitreous
Americanadjective
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of the nature of or resembling glass, as in transparency, brittleness, hardness, glossiness, etc..
vitreous china.
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of or relating to glass.
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obtained from or containing glass.
adjective
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of, relating to, or resembling glass
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made of, derived from, or containing glass
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of or relating to the vitreous humour or vitreous body
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of vitreous
1640–50; < Latin vitreus, equivalent to vitr ( um ) glass + -eus -eous
Explanation
Something that has the characteristics of glass — hard, brittle, glossy, possibly transparent — can be said to be vitreous, or glasslike. A vitreous surface works well for a kitchen counter. The adjective vitreous, which appeared in the 1640s, is from the Latin vitrum, "glass." Since the 1660s, the gel that fills the eye between the lens and the retina has been known as the "vitreous humor," the "vitreous body," or simply "the vitreous," presumably for the gel's clear, glassine appearance. If the vitreous breaks down, becoming more liquid than gel (usually due to aging or an injury), it can be disrupted, creating vision problems.
Vocabulary lists containing vitreous
100 SAT Words Beginning with "V"
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Cosmos
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Walden
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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.
While a common approach involves removing the vitreous body and substituting it with medical intraocular fillers like expandable gas or silicone oil, these fillers have been associated with various side effects.
From Science Daily • Mar. 25, 2024
One approach is a surgery called a vitrectomy—not to be a confused with a vasectomy, though neither are a walk in the park—which involves scooping out the vitreous and replacing it with a saline solution.
From Slate • Nov. 28, 2018
So, this week I had surgery to place medicine implants in my eyes and had a vitrectomy to drain out the polluted vitreous fluid in my eyeball and replace it with a clear solution.
From New York Times • Feb. 23, 2018
Nonmetallic minerals may be shiny, although their vitreous shine is different from metallic luster.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017
That’s called vitreous fluid, I thought with clarity.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
