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xenocryst

American

[zen-uh-krist, zee-nuh-] / ˈzɛn ə krɪst, ˈzi nə- /

noun

Mineralogy.

a rock or crystal engulfed by magma and retained as an inclusion in the resulting igneous rock.

xenocryst British

/ ˈzɛnəˌkrɪst /

noun

a crystal included within an igneous rock as the magma cooled but not formed from it

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

xenocryst Scientific

/ zĕn′ə-krĭst′,zē′nə- /

A crystal foreign to the igneous rock in which it occurs. Xenocrysts usually form during metamorphism.
Compare xenolith

Other Word Forms

xenocrystic

adjective

Etymology

Origin of xenocryst

xeno- + cryst(al)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023