concretion

See also: concrétion

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French concrétion, or Latin concrētiō.

Pronunciation

  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːʃən

Noun

concretion (countable and uncountable, plural concretions)

  1. The process of aggregating or coalescing into a mass.
  2. A solid, hard mass formed by a process of aggregation or coalescence.
  3. (petrology) A rounded mass of a mineral, sometimes found in sedimentary rock or on the ocean floor.
    • 1844, Charles Darwin, chapter 5, in Geological Observations on South America:
      Of the three beds, the central one is the most compact, and more like ordinary sandstone: it includes numerous flattened spherical concretions.
  4. The action of making something concrete or the result of such an action.

Usage notes

  • Concretion and concretization are rough synonyms but are usually not used interchangeably. Concretion is more commonly used to refer to a physical object or to the physical process which creates it. Concretization is more commonly used to refer to a particular embodiment of a general concept or to the process which creates it.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  • Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.

Anagrams

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