facies

[ fey-shee-eez, -sheez ]

noun

, plural fa·ci·es.

1. general appearance, as of an animal or vegetable group.
2. Geology. the appearance and characteristics of a sedimentary deposit, especially as they reflect the conditions and environment of deposition and serve to distinguish the deposit from contiguous deposits. Compare metamorphic facies.
3. Medicine/Medical. a facial expression characteristic of a disease or pathological condition.
4. Archaeology. a distinctive phase of a prehistoric cultural tradition.

facies

/ ˈfeɪʃɪˌiːz /

noun

1. the general form and appearance of an individual or a group of plants or animals
2. the characteristics of a rock or series of rocks reflecting their appearance, composition, and conditions of formation
3. med the general facial expression of a patient, esp when typical of a specific disease or disorder See Hippocratic facies

facies

/ fā′shē-ēz′,-shēz /

, Plural facies

1. 1. A body of sedimentary rock distinguished from others by its lithology, geometry, sedimentary structures, proximity to other types of sedimentary rock, and fossil content, and recognized as characteristic of a particular depositional environment.
   2. For a metamorphic rock, the particular combination of pressure and temperature under which metamorphism occurred.
2. The general aspect or makeup of an ecological community, especially a local modification of a community characterized by a conspicuous or abundant species that is absent or less concentrated in other locations.
3. The appearance or expression of the face, especially when typical of a certain disorder or disease.

Other Words From

• sub·faci·es noun plural subfacies

Word History and Origins

Origin of facies¹

1350–1400, for an earlier sense; Middle English < Latin: form, figure, appearance, face, akin to facere to make

Word History and Origins

Origin of facies¹

C17: from Latin: appearance, face

Example Sentences

“If you tell a lay person” that a child has “mandibular hypoplasia, or maxillary deficiency, or adenoidal facies — it sounds bad,” said Vig.

From Slate

Throughout his heady exploration of the white gaze, colonial trauma and Mexican migration, the author audaciously asserts his well-read academic prowess, not afraid, for instance, to make the reader reach to understand an opening epigraph from Walter Benjamin about “the facies hippocratica of history as a petrified, primordial landscape.”

From New York Times

Williams sufferers tend to be elfin-looking, which was why the disorder was originally called elfin facies syndrome.

From National Geographic

Unfortunately, without the bones of his face, which can display facies leprosa or the characteristic facial destruction of leprosy, Inskip and colleagues could not be sure that this Anglo-Saxon man suffered from the disease.

From Forbes

However, lithologies, facies relations, geomorphology, and paleotopography of Miocene interior-basin deposits near the mouth of the Grand Canyon show that no paleocanyon existed in that area during filling of the basin, ~17 to ~5 Ma.

From Science Magazine