granulite

[ gran-yuh-lahyt ]

noun

1. a metamorphic rock composed of granular minerals of uniform size, as quartz, feldspar, or pyroxene, and showing a definite banding.

granulite

/ ˌɡrænjʊˈlɪtɪk; ˈɡrænjʊˌlaɪt /

noun

1. a granular foliated metamorphic rock in which the minerals form a mosaic of equal-sized granules

granulite

/ grăn′yə-līt′ /

1. A fine-grained metamorphic rock consisting of similarly sized, interlocking minerals. Unlike most metamorphic rocks, granulites do not exhibit foliation or textural or mineralogical layering.

Derived Forms

• granulitic, adjective

Other Words From

• gran·u·lit·ic [gran-y, uh, -, lit, -ik], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of granulite¹

First recorded in 1840–50; granule + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

The second statue, an Ardhanariswara idol made of granulite, which represents Shiva in half-female form, was bought by the Art Gallery of New South Wales for an undisclosed sum in 2004.

From Reuters

Cyanite is a characteristic mineral of the metamorphic crystalline rocks—gneiss, schist, granulite and eclogite—and is often associated with garnet and staurolite.

From Project Gutenberg

For the commoner grades of dark-coloured bottles the glass mixture is cheapened by substituting common salt for part of the sulphate of soda, and by the addition of felspar, granite, granulite, furnace slag and other substances fusible at a high temperature.

From Project Gutenberg

The gneiss is uniformly of a species not often met with, studded with garnets, and between its strata are inserted single beds of hornblende-gneiss and splinters of pure hornblende, as also granulite-gneiss and pure granulite.

From Project Gutenberg

The more micaceous varieties form transitions to granulite and gneiss.

From Project Gutenberg