LIMESTONE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does limestone mean? 

• LIMESTONE (noun)
  The noun LIMESTONE has 1 sense:

1. a sedimentary rock consisting mainly of calcium that was deposited by the remains of marine animals

  Familiarity information: LIMESTONE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LIMESTONE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sedimentary rock consisting mainly of calcium that was deposited by the remains of marine animals

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("limestone" is a kind of...):

rock; stone (material consisting of the aggregate of minerals like those making up the Earth's crust)

sedimentary rock (rock formed from consolidated clay sediments)

Meronyms (substance of "limestone"):

atomic number 20; Ca; calcium (a white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light; the fifth most abundant element in the earth's crust; an important component of most plants and animals)

atomic number 6; C; carbon (an abundant nonmetallic tetravalent element occurring in three allotropic forms: amorphous carbon and graphite and diamond; occurs in all organic compounds)

calcite (a common mineral consisting of crystallized calcium carbonate; a major constituent of limestone)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "limestone"):

rottenstone; tripoli (a weathered and decomposed siliceous limestone; in powdered form it is used in polishing)

 Context examples 

It therefore found in a wide variety of habitats: volcanic terrains, lava-strewn coasts, and clearings or limestone outcrops.

(Morinda citrifolia, NCI Thesaurus)

On Earth, bodies of water that formed similarly, by dissolving surrounding limestone, are known as karstic lakes.

(New Models Suggest Titan Lakes Are Explosion Craters, NASA)

In contrast to the surfaces of granite gravestones, those of limestone tombstones are less acidic.

(Tales from the crypt: Life after death in a graveyard, National Science Foundation)

During the 9th century however, there was a major political collapse in the central Maya region: their famous limestone cities were abandoned and dynasties ended.

(Scientists measure severity of drought during the Maya collapse, University of Cambridge)

Stalagmites are cave pillars made largely of calcium carbonate or limestone, in association with trace elements such as magnesium, that is precipitated by rainwater.

(Cave stalagmites reveal India’s rainfall secrets, SciDev.Net)

A long, sloping hillside, dotted with grey limestone boulders, stretched behind us.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Comprised of limestone.

(Karstic, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

Limestone surfaces are also more likely to harbor lichens — symbiotic communities composed of fungi and photosynthesizing cyanobacteria or algae.

(Tales from the crypt: Life after death in a graveyard, National Science Foundation)

For example, microbes that flourish on granite gravestones in Maine are more like those growing on granite gravestones in Belgium than they are to those on limestone tombstones just feet away.

(Tales from the crypt: Life after death in a graveyard, National Science Foundation)