Oolite

//ˈəʊəlʌɪt// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A rock consisting of spherical grains within a mineral cortex accreted around a nucleus, often of quartz grains. countable, uncountable

    "Here and there are beds of oolites, for example, made of little rounded grains – like millet seed – that form only in agitated warm waters, such as you might find off the Bahamas today."

  2. 2
    An ooid or oolith. countable, rare

Synonyms

All synonyms
egg stoneegg-stoneooidooidoolithoolith

Example

More examples

"Here and there are beds of oolites, for example, made of little rounded grains – like millet seed – that form only in agitated warm waters, such as you might find off the Bahamas today."

Etymology

From oo- + -lite, after German Oolit.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.