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
Derived 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.
The Cataclysm: “From Unbaked Fragments to Vitreous Charcoal” Dana Hunter is a science blogger, SF writer, and geology addict whose home away from SciAm is En Tequila Es Verdad.
From Scientific American • May 23, 2013
The Cataclysm: “From Unbaked Fragments to Vitreous Charcoal” There’s a fundamental fact one learns about trees when growing up in dry country forests: they’re flammable.
From Scientific American • May 23, 2013
Yet its husky, smooth-talking president, Carl Strandlund, 47, a vice president of Vitreous, had convinced NHA that he could mass-produce thousands of prefabricated houses, made chiefly of enameled steel sheets.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tucker Corp., said NHA, would have to move out so the plant could be turned over to Lustron Corp., an offshoot of the Chicago Vitreous Enamel Products Corp.
From Time Magazine Archive
Vitreous crystallized plates of brown and yellow stand out on a striated ground composed of layers of alabaster and fetid limestone.
From Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 1 by Ross, Thomasina
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.
