Diorite
//ˈdaɪ.əˌɹaɪt// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A grey intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of plagioclase feldspar, biotite, hornblende and/or pyroxene. countable, uncountable
- 2 a granular crystalline intrusive rock wordnet
Etymology
From French diorite, invented by mineralogist Alexandre Brongniart (1770-1847), derived from Ancient Greek διορίζω (diorízō, “distinguish”), from δι- plus ὁρίζω (horízō, “to limit”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.