Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A usually black or banded, hard volcanic glass that displays shiny, curved surfaces when fractured and is formed by rapid cooling of lava.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A volcanic rock, in a vitreous condition, and closely resembling ordinary bottle-glass in appearance and texture. Obsidian usually contains about 70 per cent. of silica, and is the vitreous form of a trachyte or rock consisting largely of sanidine. It is of various colors, black, brown, and grayish green being the most common. Obsidian often occurs in a coarsely cellular form, and passes into pumice. See cut under
conchoidal .
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A kind of glass produced by volcanoes. It is usually of a black color, and opaque, except in thin splinters.
WordNet 3.0
- n. acid or granitic glass formed by the rapid cooling of lava without crystallization; usually dark, but transparent in thin pieces
Etymologies
- Latin obsidiānus, misreading of obsiānus (lapis), Obsian (stone), obsidian, after Obsius, a Roman who supposedly discovered it or a similar mineral.
Examples
“Glass in the form of a volcanic residue such as obsidian is found in nature.”
“Although most obsidian is black, a variety of colors can be found in the vast deposits of Jalisco.”
“Although most obsidian is black, a variety of colors can be found in the vast deposits of Jalisco, Mexico.”
“I confess that I, too, had very little interest in obsidian until the day I walked into Don Eleno's obsidian workshop in the sleepy village of Navajas, located 30 kilometers southwest of Guadalajara.”
“Esparza explained to us that the colors in obsidian come from traces of different minerals embedded in it.”
“In this area of Jalisco, the typical country-workshop approach to shaping obsidian is dangerous.”
“The main obsidian mines were those of Zinapécuaro ( "obsidian place").”
“The sangre-de-indio obsidian is from a hill just outside Navajas," he told us, "but we trade with people as far away as La Lobera, a little town about 65 kilometers north of here.”
“| Reply im sure there’s groupies in front of your house. yelling things like “SHOW US YOUR GAY PHONE!!!” and “I WANNA HAVE OBSIDIAN’S BABY!!” but sadly youre married and obsidian is in colombia … call it poetic tragedy.”
EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - Enjoying 11th position on Yahoo Podcasts
“The artisans of Navajas had started out producing small hearts and butterflies, but as time went by, a benefactor began to bring them clay models made by accomplished Mexican sculptors, challenging them to render these works of art in obsidian.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘obsidian’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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Words I like
A list contrived for the sole purpose of storing words I like to include in my writing; words that inspire or carry power for me.
contrite, meadow, sward, ossary, calumny, moribund, necropolis, chthonic, murmur, erstwhile, chime, beryl and 21 more...
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2
kerniving, scandinavia, confectionary, mangrove, bejewelled, flesh, crystalline, gazelle, pantaloons, bluebird, caribou, albatross and 88 more...
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dameaning's list
negotiable
hegemony
stalagmite
wont
rasp
riddle
somnambulist
librocubicularisttertiary, constancy, acumen, tinder, confluence, insular, partiality, terse, vanguard, avant guard, irrascible, inverse and 27 more...
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Uncommon and Interesting words
That come in handy, but might make you look like a douchebag.
prurient, lithe, superannuated, wanderlust, sanguine, florid, slugabed, candor, eldritch, superbowl syndrome, indolent, perforce and 37 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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words i love
mahogany, serenity, quell, requiem, parhelion, echo, surfacing, ethereal, melodic, vivid, sirenic, sprightly and 122 more...
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Color adjectives
A complement to Chromonyms and Chromonyms 2, which are restricted to nouns that have appeared in at least one dictionary. If a word can be either a noun or an adjective, I list it as a noun. This l...
hyacinthine, griseous, glaucous, verdant, virescent, amaranthine, miniaceous, rubiginous, ferruginous, ruddy, caesious, cyanotic and 214 more...
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color me mauve
color words
albescent, ecru, eggshell, mauve, taupe, ochre, ashen, goldenrod, gamboge, cream, saffron, mustard and 109 more...
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A Myriad of Irii
Iris varieties.
abbondanza, abiqua falls, about town, above the clouds, acapulco gold, act of kindness, adoregon, aegean wind, afternoon in rio, aggressively forward, agua fresca, alaskan seas and 723 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2536 more...
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wordrainbow
A big list of color names for use on wordrainbow.com
emerald, cherry, coffee, cream, almond, gold, kiwi, green, grass green, aquamarine, beet red, sepia and 714 more...
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Favorite Tangible Object Words
Trimming the "Chained Bear's Favorites" list so I don't crash people's computers... like my own...
castanets, whaup, budgie, wallabies, ring-wraith, hobbit, chinchilla, guano, merganser, phalarope, phalarope, curlew and 138 more...
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Colors
Words for colors, including things so associated with a color that they can be used in reference to a color.
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, purple, navy, lavender, turquoise, chartreuse and 215 more...
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What, another list?
ravishing, ravenous, pronk, brinksmanship, jaspe, mottle, chasm, testy, temperament, ponder, personally, phantom and 206 more...
Or perhaps that's just in the fanfic I read.
I'm sure I've read it somewhere else, though. Aug 11, 2008
suzanne, suzzanagig jig Dec 29, 2006