agate

noun, often attributive ag·ate \ ˈa-gət \

Definition of agate

1 : a fine-grained variegated chalcedony having its colors arranged in stripes, blended in clouds, or showing mosslike forms

2 : something made of or fitted with agate: such as

a : a drawplate used by gold-wire drawers

b : a playing marble of agate

3 a : a size of type approximately 5¹/₂ point

b : condensed information (such as advertisements or box scores) set especially in agate type

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Recent Examples of agate from the Web

Until one August 1994 morning when Mainieri read the fine print of the local newspaper sports agate page.

— ron higgins, NOLA.com, "LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri goes back to the future as he begins his 12th Tigers' season," 15 Feb. 2018
In the Super Bowl, the wristband had 194 plays in tiny agate type.

— peter king, SI.com, "Wristband 145: Behind The Play That Confused The Patriots and Gave The Eagles The Super Bowl LII Win," 11 Feb. 2018
This is an unpolished agate from the shores of Lake Superior, my home.

— michael mcknight, SI.com, "Challenging 2016 Behind Him, Mike Zimmer Wants to Make Good on an Old Promise," 13 Sep. 2017
Real horsehair fills out the tail; leather forms the saddle and stirrups; agate marbles dot the eyes.

— michael tortorello, WSJ, "Rhode Island’s Classic Carousels: A Seaside Tour," 1 Sep. 2017
In September, she was rewarded with a gold-and-agate necklace that the archaeologists had spent four months trying to liberate from the earth.

— myrto papadopoulos, Smithsonian, "This 3,500-Year-Old Greek Tomb Upended What We Thought We Knew About the Roots of Western Civilization," 30 Sep. 2017
Amazon’s marble cheese board is almost identical to one three times the price at Need Supply, while this agate cheese board is simply beautiful.

— indya brown, The Cut, "Everything You Need to Throw a Dinner Party on a Budget," 12 Sep. 2017
Several minerals redirect light from the sun, including calcite, agate and fluorite.

— nola taylor redd, Smithsonian, "Could We See Glow-in-the-Dark Aliens From Earth?," 1 Aug. 2017
An early mention of Bagwell, Oct. 12, 1982, was in tiny agate type.

— jeff otterbein, courant.com, "On The Fly: That Kid From Middletown - Jeff Bagwell - Is Pretty Good," 19 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'agate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of agate

Middle English achates, accate, agaten, borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French achate, agathe, borrowed from Latin achātēs, borrowed from Greek achā́tēs, of uncertain origin

Note: According to Theophrastus and Pliny, the stone was named after a river in Sicily. Modern etymologists seem disinclined to believe this and suggest that the river was named after the stone. The voiced stop in the medieval French forms, which has become the dominant form in Modern French and English, begins to appear in Medieval Latin, and may be owed to Medieval Latin agapis, a word of obscure origin used for both the agate and lapis lazuli; it has been suggested that agapis is itself a distortion of achates (crossed with Latin lapis "stone"?), though this is far from clear.

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Other Mineralogy Terms

host, inclusion, matrix, streak

AGATE Defined for English Language Learners

agate

noun

Definition of agate for English Language Learners

: a very hard stone used especially in jewelry that has colors arranged in stripes or in patches

AGATE Defined for Kids

agate

noun ag·ate \ ˈa-gət \

Definition of agate for Students

: a mineral that is a form of quartz with colors arranged in stripes or patches and that is used especially in jewelry

Learn More about agate

See words that rhyme with agate Spanish Central: Translation of agate Nglish: Translation of agate for Spanish speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about agate

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agate

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