volcanic glass

noun

: natural glass produced by the cooling of molten lava too rapidly to permit crystallization

Examples of volcanic glass in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Continuing excavations within the ancient city of Pompeii have revealed the remains of a man and a woman within a small bedroom buried by ash and volcanic glass in AD 79 from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 17 Aug. 2024 Join 5 others in the comments View Comments The ancient Greco-Roman city of Pompeii was buried under ash and volcanic glass during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E. and since the 1700s, archeologists have been unearthing the city that’s been frozen in time. Amarachi Orie, CNN, 11 Apr. 2024 And the same layers of sediment contained rocks with tiny fragments of volcanic glass, suggesting people lived there both before and after the blast in Indonesia, writes CNN’s Katie Hunt. Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Mar. 2024 Microscopic fragments of volcanic glass found alongside stone tools and animal remains near Ethiopia’s Shinfa River showed how humans survived — and adapted — after the eruption. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 23 Mar. 2024 See all Example Sentences for volcanic glass 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'volcanic glass.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1780, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of volcanic glass was in 1780

Dictionary Entries Near volcanic glass

Cite this Entry

“Volcanic glass.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/volcanic%20glass. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on volcanic glass

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!