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Glite Dictionary
marmoreal

marmoreal

9.9
Smooth and pale like a statue carved from marble
  • adjective
  • /mɑrˈmɔrɪəl/
  • Literature
translation icon : marmóreo
  • Her skin was so smooth and pale that it seemed marmoreal in its perfection.

Examples

  • The old building featured marmoreal columns that added to its grandeur.

  • Not to mention the marmoreal Dirdirman and the nomad lad.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Feuilletonist was by far the best, with marmoreal and flocculent being runners-up.

    Blog text (22)

  • When the guard raised the bar, I'd hoofed it like a maniac up and down stairways, through the marmoreal labyrinth, finally into the chapel itself.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • In 1906, the artist passed from the wan, Italianate nudes of his Rose period to some bloated, marmoreal, but still classicized figures.

    Academic text (1994)

  • The statue had a beautiful, marmoreal finish that gleamed in the sunlight.

Synonyms

marbled
vsmarmoreal
1 4.4

Having streaks and veins of another color, like marble or fat in meat

focuses on overall physical qualities such as smoothness hardness and whiteness
marmorean
vsmarmoreal
  • Literature
9.9

Looks and feels like marble

emphasizes specific physical qualities such as smoothness hardness and whiteness
marbly
vsmarmoreal
7.0

Having a smooth surface with streaks like marble

focuses on specific attributes like smoothness hardness and whiteness
marmorated
vsmarmoreal
  • Specialized
9.5

Having a surface like marble with light and dark lines

describes resemblance in surface qualities like smoothness hardness and whiteness
marbleized
vsmarmoreal
  • US
6.5

Having streaks or swirls of color like real marble

refers instead to physical likeness in hardness smoothness or whiteness

How Marble-Like

marmoreal
  • Literature
9.9
marbled
1 4.4
veined
4.4

Surface Forms

marmoreal positive

Morphology

marmoreal = marble (semi-transparent) = marmor + eal

The meaning 'like marble' is recoverable from 'marble' + the adjectival '-eal', but the word shows a Latinized form ('marmor-') and the suffix '-eal' is less familiar to learners, so the relation is not fully transparent.

Etymology

The word marmoreal comes from the Latin root marmor, which means 'marble'. Think of a smooth, pale statue or a marble stone to remember that marmoreal means 'like marble', or smooth, hard, and statue-like.