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Webster 1913 Edition


Metamorphism

Metˊa-mor′phism

,
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.
Murchison.

Definition 2024


metamorphism

metamorphism

English

Noun

metamorphism (plural metamorphisms)

  1. (geology) The process by which rocks are changed into other forms by the application of heat and/or pressure.
    • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society 2011, p. 100:
      burial means that the ambient pressure on the rock increases – as does the temperature. This encourages metamorphism.
  2. (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.

See also