metamorphic

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   relating to rock altered by intense heat, pressure, or chemically active fluids without fully melting

   Marble is a metamorphic rock formed when limestone is transformed by heat and pressure.

2. 2
   adj

   involving or characterized by a profound change in form, nature, or structure

   The crisis had a metamorphic effect on the institution's purpose.

Formed from metamorphosis or metamorphose + -ic. Those words come through Latin from Greek metamorphosis, 'transformation,' built from meta- ('change') + morphe ('form'). Geology gave the adjective a specialized sense for solid rock transformed by heat, pressure, or fluids.

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