Games

Word of the Day

Video

Blog: Words at Play

My Faves

Dictionary

¹mosaic

noun mo·sa·ic \mō-ˈzā-ik\

: a decoration on a surface made by pressing small pieces of colored glass or stone into a soft material that then hardens to make pictures or patterns

: something made up of different things that together form a pattern

Full Definition of MOSAIC

: a surface decoration made by inlaying small pieces of variously colored material to form pictures or patterns; also : the process of making it

: a picture or design made in mosaic

: something resembling a mosaic <a mosaic of visions and daydreams and memories — Lawrence Shainberg>

: an organism or one of its parts composed of cells of more than one genotype : chimera 3

: any of numerous virus diseases of plants characterized by diffuse light and dark green or yellow and green mottling of the foliage — compare tobacco mosaic virus

: a composite map made of photographs taken by an aircraft or spacecraft

: the part of a television camera tube consisting of many minute photoelectric particles that convert light to an electric charge

— mo·sa·ic·like \-ˈzā-ik-ˌlīk\ adjective

See mosaic defined for English-language learners

See mosaic defined for kids

Origin of MOSAIC

Middle English musycke, from Medieval Latin musaicum, alteration of Late Latin musivum, from Latin museum, musaeum

First Known Use: 15th century

Other Fine Arts Terms

Gothic, baroque, bas-relief, limn, oeuvre, pastiche, rococo, sfumato

Rhymes with MOSAIC

alcaic, Altaic, archaic, Chaldaic, deltaic, Hebraic, Incaic, Judaic, Mishnaic, Mithraic, Mosaic, Passaic, prosaic, Romaic, spondaic, stanzaic, trochaic, voltaic

²mosaic

adjective

Definition of MOSAIC

: of, relating to, produced by, or resembling a mosaic

: exhibiting mosaicism

: determinate 5

— mo·sa·i·cal·ly \-ˈzā-ə-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

First Known Use of MOSAIC

1585

Other Fine Arts Terms

Gothic, baroque, bas-relief, limn, oeuvre, pastiche, rococo, sfumato

³mosaic

verb

mosaickedmosaick·ing

Definition of MOSAIC

transitive verb

: to decorate with mosaics

: to form into a mosaic

First Known Use of MOSAIC

1839

Other Fine Arts Terms

Gothic, baroque, bas-relief, limn, oeuvre, pastiche, rococo, sfumato

Mosaic

adjective Mo·sa·ic \mō-ˈzā-ik\

Definition of MOSAIC

: of or relating to Moses or the institutions or writings attributed to him

Origin of MOSAIC

New Latin Mosaicus, from Moses Moses

First Known Use: 1662

Other Jewish Religion Terms

Talmud, Zion, challah, dybbuk, kosher, tabernacle, tetragrammaton, yarmulke

Rhymes with MOSAIC

alcaic, Altaic, archaic, Chaldaic, deltaic, Hebraic, Incaic, Judaic, Mishnaic, Mithraic, mosaic, Passaic, prosaic, Romaic, spondaic, stanzaic, trochaic, voltaic

MOSAIC Defined for Kids

mosaic

noun mo·sa·ic \mō-ˈzā-ik\

Definition of MOSAIC for Kids

: a decoration on a surface made by setting small pieces of glass, stone, or tile of different colors into another material to make patterns or pictures