Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The process by which rocks are altered in composition, texture, or internal structure by extreme heat, pressure, and the introduction of new chemical substances.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The process of metamorphosing, or changing the form or structure; specifically, chemical change and rearrangement of the constituents of a rock by which they are made to assume new forms and enter into new combinations, the most important result of these changes being that the rock becomes harder and more crystalline in structure.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Geol.) The state or quality of being metamorphic; the process by which the material of rock masses has been more or less recrystallized by heat, pressure, etc., as in the change of sedimentary limestone to marble.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun geology The process by which rocks are changed into other forms by the application of heat and/or pressure.
  • noun zoology The process by which insects development through life stages -- as, for example, those of embryo, larva, pupa and imago. The life cycle of the butterfly is one of complete metamorphosis, in which the embryo grows within the egg, hatches into the larval stage caterpillar, enters the pupal stage within its chrysalis, and finally emerges as an adult butterfly imago.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun change in the structure of rock by natural agencies such as pressure or heat or introduction of new chemical substances

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[metamorph(ic) + –ism.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From metamorphosis +‎ -ism, after French métamorphisme.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word metamorphism.

Examples

  • Some geologists confine the term metamorphism to the changes involved in contact and dynamic metamorphism, and call the resulting products _metamorphic rocks_.

    The Economic Aspect of Geology 1915

  • Basically, a process called metamorphism caused the basalts in Shenandoah to recrystallize with new minerals, such as chlorite, epidote, and albite, which help give the rocks their greenish hue.

    The Killing Hour Gardner, Lisa 2003

  • Rocks are not permanent in their condition, but at practically all times and places are undergoing some kind of metamorphism which tends to adapt them to their environment.

    The Economic Aspect of Geology 1915

  • “Submicron magnetite grains and carbon compounds in Martian meteorite ALH84001: Inorganic, abiotic formation by shock and thermal metamorphism.”

    First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011

  • “Submicron magnetite grains and carbon compounds in Martian meteorite ALH84001: Inorganic, abiotic formation by shock and thermal metamorphism.”

    First Contact Marc Kaufman 2011

  • It is an oil from Neem seeds, it is used as and anti fungal in gardening. .it also smells bad and drives off insects, those that do eat of it have their larval hormones messed up enough they cannot metamorphism to moths, it is also bitter, it has been used as a contraceptive in its native India.

    The Truth About the Health Effects of Toxic Mold 2009

  • It is an oil from Neem seeds, it is used as and anti fungal in gardening. .it also smells bad and drives off insects, those that do eat of it have their larval hormones messed up enough they cannot metamorphism to moths, it is also bitter, it has been used as a contraceptive in its native India.

    The Truth About the Health Effects of Toxic Mold 2009

  • Some metasiltstone or metasandstone occurs, but it is material of very low-grade metamorphism.

    Ecoregions of North Carolina and South Carolina (EPA) 2009

  • These mantle rocks also show a type of metamorphism found only in conditions of very high energy release.

    Vredefort Dome, South Africa 2009

  • It is an oil from Neem seeds, it is used as and anti fungal in gardening. .it also smells bad and drives off insects, those that do eat of it have their larval hormones messed up enough they cannot metamorphism to moths, it is also bitter, it has been used as a contraceptive in its native India.

    The Truth About the Health Effects of Toxic Mold 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.