Definitions

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

  • noun The branch of geology that deals with the origin, composition, structure, and alteration of rocks.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The study of rocks from the point of view of their mineralogical composition; lithology; petrography. By some this term is used in a more limited sense. See the quotation, and also petrography.

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

  • noun The department of science which is concerned with the mineralogical and chemical composition of rocks, and with their classification: lithology.
  • noun A treatise on petrology.

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

  • noun geology the study of the origin, composition and structure of rock

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

  • noun the branch of geology that studies rocks: their origin and formation and mineral composition and classification

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From petro- + -logy.

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Examples

  • This word petrology should be understood not from the more familiar oil of rocks but from what is in English an apparent pun by Jesus in the New Testament.

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • This word petrology should be understood not from the more familiar oil of rocks but from what is in English an apparent pun by Jesus in the New Testament.

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

  • "Oh yes … petrology, which is, of course, the broad study of rocks including their interpretation and description.

    Noble House Clavell, James 1981

  • "Oh yes ... petrology, which is, of course, the broad study of rocks including their interpretation and description.

    Noble House Clavell, James 1981

  • He was a genius at petrology structure and composition of rocks, and produced the applications of the interiors of the Earth, the planets and moons.

    Universe Puzzle No. 6 | Universe Today 2010

  • Anyway I then headed over to the UCL campus and turned up to the lecture room and panicked that there where undergraduates in there with microscopes and the like doing some petrology.

    Snell-Pym » 2009 » April 2009

  • From igneous petrology: anatexis = fusion = melting

    microscopic is tinier than miniscule 2009

  • Anyway I then headed over to the UCL campus and turned up to the lecture room and panicked that there where undergraduates in there with microscopes and the like doing some petrology.

    Snell-Pym » A talk on giving talks 2009

  • Geologists can reconstruct these events by combining studies on the origins of rocks (petrology) and rock layering (stratigraphy) with the evolution of life (paleontology).

    AP Environmental Science Chapter 3- The Solid Earth 2008

  • Igneous and metamorphic petrology of lavas and dykes of the Macquarie Island ophiolite complex.

    MacQuarie Island, Australia 2008

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