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melange

- 4 dictionary results

mé⋅lange

  [mey-lahnzh, -lahnj]
Use melange in a Sentence
–noun, plural -langes  [-lahnzh, -lahn-jiz] .
a mixture; medley.
Origin:
1645–55; < F; OF meslance, equiv. to mesl(er) to mix (see meddle ) + -ance n. suffix ≪ Gmc -ingō -ing 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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mé·lange also me·lange   (mā-läɴzh')   
n.  
  1. A mixture: "[a] building crowned with a mélange of antennae and satellite dishes" (Howard Kaplan).
  2. Geology A metamorphic rock formation created from sediments and rocks scraped off the top of a downward-moving tectonic plate in a subduction zone.

[French, from Old French meslance, from mesler, to mix; see meddle.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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melange 
1653, from Fr. mélange, from mêler "to mix, mingle," from O.Fr. mesler (see meddle).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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mélange   (mā-läɴzh')  Pronunciation Key 
A metamorphic rock formation created from materials scraped off the top of a downward moving tectonic plate in a subduction zone. Mélanges occur where plates of oceanic crust subduct beneath plates of continental crust, as along the western coast of South America. They consist of intensely deformed marine sediments and ocean-floor basalts and are characterized by the lack of regular strata, the inclusion of fragments and blocks of various rock types, and the presence of minerals that form only under high pressure and low temperature conditions.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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