Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Rock composed of sharp-angled fragments embedded in a fine-grained matrix.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In geology, a conglomerate in which the fragments, instead of being rounded or water-worn, are angular.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Geol.) A rock composed of angular fragments either of the same mineral or of different minerals, etc., united by a cement, and commonly presenting a variety of colors.
- noun a breccia containing bones, usually fragmentary.
- noun a breccia containing coins.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun geology A
rock composed of angular fragments in amatrix that may be of a similar or a different material.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a rudaceous rock consisting of sharp fragments embedded in clay or sand
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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A breccia is a rock made up of angular pebbles or fragments of other rocks.
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It may also be called a breccia, for it is composed of black fragments, larger or smaller, derived from other rocks, whose angular shape indicates that they have not travelled far from the spots where they occur.
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Many beds of siliceous gravel are cemented together by a siliceous cement, and are called breccia; as the plumb-pudding stones of
The Botanic Garden A Poem in Two Parts. Part 1: the Economy of Vegetation
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Uranium mining in the geologic formations known as breccia pipes that abound in the area around the Grand Canyon did occur during the 1980s but diminished as the prices dropped.
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Uranium mining in the geologic formations known as breccia pipes that abound in the area around the Grand Canyon did occur during the 1980s but diminished as the prices dropped.
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Squeezing through the narrow walls -- some are smooth marble, others multicolored rock fragments called breccia that appear to be cemented together -- the forces that carve and polish Mosaic Canyon with each passing storm are easy to appreciate.
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In some cases rare stone types, such as breccia corallina, cipollino marina and some as yet unidentified stone types were used.
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I am afraid that -- what between squeezing and heating -- she would flatten us all out into phosphatic fossils, about an inch thick; and turn Winchester city into a "breccia" which would puzzle geologists a hundred thousand years hence.
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As the San Francisco Chronicle reports: Steve Squyres, a Cornell astronomer and the rover's chief scientist, said Thursday that the rugged rock is a form of breccia, jumbled fragments of minerals cemented together and apparently thrown up from beneath the planet's surface by some monstrous impact that happened millions - or perhaps billions - of years ago.
James M. Gentile: Innovations In Space Technology Are Still Key
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As the San Francisco Chronicle reports: Steve Squyres, a Cornell astronomer and the rover's chief scientist, said Thursday that the rugged rock is a form of breccia, jumbled fragments of minerals cemented together and apparently thrown up from beneath the planet's surface by some monstrous impact that happened millions - or perhaps billions - of years ago.
James M. Gentile: Innovations In Space Technology Are Still Key
artoparts commented on the word breccia
Specifically: volcanic breccia.
January 29, 2009