Molasse
//məˈlæs// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A shallow deposit of sandstone, shale and conglomerate in front of a rising mountain chain. countable, uncountable
"The molasse provides a record of the wearing down of the Alpine range at a late stage; unlike the Flysch, it is largely non-marine."
Example
More examples"This mountain is composed of molasse, which is partly covered by moraine material."
Etymology
From French molasse, a kind of sandstone, from Latin mollis (“soft”).
Related phrases
More for "molasse"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.