alabaster

[ al-uh-bas-ter, -bah-ster ]
See synonyms for alabaster on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a finely granular variety of gypsum, often white and translucent, used for ornamental objects or work, such as lamp bases, figurines, etc.

  2. Also called Oriental alabaster. a variety of calcite, often banded, used or sold as alabaster.

adjectiveAlso al·a·bas·trine [al-uh-bas-trin]. /ˌæl əˈbæs trɪn/.
  1. made of alabaster: an alabaster column.

  2. resembling alabaster; smooth and white: her alabaster throat.

Origin of alabaster

1
1350–1400; <Latin <Greek alábastros; replacing Middle English alabastre<Middle French <Latin

Words Nearby alabaster

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use alabaster in a sentence

  • See also the vignette on title page, copied from an alabaster slab in the Collegio Romano, originally from the Catacombs.

    The Catacombs of Rome | William Henry Withrow
  • This day Mrs. Russell did give my wife a very fine St. George, in alabaster, which will set out my wife's closett mightily.

  • Round the chapel, known as the Dean's Chapel, there was a fine copper railing decorated with small alabaster figures.

  • The form stretched its lovely arms, white as alabaster, and presently the hands rubbed a pair of sleepy eyes.

    The Adventures of Kathlyn | Harold MacGrath
  • An elegant monument of alabaster, with a bust of Pepys, taken from his portrait in the National Gallery, was unveiled in 1884.

    Milton's England | Lucia Ames Mead

British Dictionary definitions for alabaster

alabaster

/ (ˈæləˌbɑːstə, -ˌbæstə) /


noun
  1. a fine-grained usually white, opaque, or translucent variety of gypsum used for statues, vases, etc

  2. a variety of hard semitranslucent calcite, often banded like marble

adjective
  1. of or resembling alabaster

Origin of alabaster

1
C14: from Old French alabastre, from Latin alabaster, from Greek alabastros

Derived forms of alabaster

  • alabastrine, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012