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cementation

American  
[see-muhn-tey-shuhn, -men-, sem-uhn-] / ˌsi mənˈteɪ ʃən, -mɛn-, ˌsɛm ən- /

noun

  1. the act, process, or result of cementing.

  2. Metallurgy. the heating of two substances in contact in order to effect some change in one of them, especially, the formation of steel by heating iron in powdered charcoal.

cementation British  
/ ˌsiːmɛnˈteɪʃən /

noun

  1. the process of heating a solid with a powdered material to modify the properties of the solid, esp the heating of wrought iron, surrounded with charcoal, to 750–900°C to produce steel

  2. the process of cementing or being cemented

  3. civil engineering the injection of cement grout into fissured rocks to make them watertight

"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
cementation Scientific  
/ sē′mĕn-tā′shən /

  1. A metallurgical coating process in which a metal or alloy such as iron or steel is immersed in a powder of another metal, such as zinc, chromium, or aluminum, and heated to a temperature below the melting point of either. Cementation is often employed to increase resistance to oxidation.

Etymology

Origin of cementation

First recorded in 1585–95; cement + -ation

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.

According to Jean-Paul Raynal, who co-directed the program during the key excavation period, repeated changes in sea level, wind-driven sedimentation, and rapid cementation of coastal sands created ideal conditions for preserving fossils and archaeological evidence.

From Science Daily • Feb. 7, 2026

These processes of compaction and cementation are called lithification.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

The processes of cementation, compaction, and ultimately lithification occur within the realm of diagenesis, which includes the processes that turn organic material into fossils.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

These iron oxides coat and bind mineral grains together into sedimentary rocks in a process called cementation and often give these rocks a dominant color.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

Thus below the zone of solution where the work of water is to dissolve, lies the zone of cementation where its work is chemical deposit.

From The Elements of Geology by Norton, William Harmon

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.