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Glite Dictionary
unmortared

unmortared

8.7
Made of stones or bricks joined without mortar
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈmɔrtərd/
translation icon : sin mortero
  • The nearly vertical freestanding walls made of uncut, unmortared rock that support the conduits show little evidence of deterioration, even after 500 years.

Examples

  • To the north, east, and south, the garden is bounded by three rugged walls of unmortared chunks of granite.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The floor is made of unmortared bricks sitting on a bedding of sand.

  • I reached out and pulled a stone right out of the middle of his unmortared wall.

  • To the north, east, and south, the garden is bounded by three rugged walls of unmortared chunks of granite.

Synonyms

mortarless
vsunmortared
  • Specialized
6.6

Made without mortar, with stones or bricks placed tightly together

is used more generally for absence of mortar rather than only in building
uncemented
vsunmortared
  • Specialized
6.8

Loose rock or sand not held together by hard material

is about lack of mortar in joints rather than lack of mineral cement

Antonyms

secure
86 3.3

Firmly fixed so it will not move or break

How Joined

unmortared
8.7
separate
829 2.1

Surface Forms

unmortared positive

Morphology

unmortared = mortared (transparent) = un + mortar + ed

Formed by productive prefixation 'un-' to the adjective 'mortared', yielding a straightforward negative meaning.

Etymology

The word unmortared breaks into un- meaning 'not' and mortar, the 'sticky mix used to join stones or bricks'. So unmortared describes walls or paths where the stones are simply stacked without that joining material.