Word.ws English Dictionary

mafic

UK/ˈmafɪk/US/ˈmeɪfɪk/

mafic adjective: describing rocks, such as silicate minerals, magmas, and volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks, which contain relatively high concentrations of magnesium and iron.

Adjective

mafic (comparative more mafic, superlative most mafic)

  1. Describing rocks, such as silicate minerals, magmas, and volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks, which contain relatively high concentrations of magnesium and iron.
    • Much of the southern half of the southeastern body is a mafic syenite, slightly more felsic than the shonkinite.1954, J. C. Olson, D. R. Shawe, L. C. Pray, W. N. Sharp, Rare-Earth Mineral Deposits of the Mountain Pass District, San Bernadino County, California, U.S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper 261...
    • As a whole, rocks of this type are referred to as mafic, because of the importance of magnesium and iron in their composition.2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 60
    Synonyms:
    ferromagnesic, basic
    Antonyms:
    felsic, acidic

Noun

mafic (plural mafics)

  1. A rock with such properties.

Synonyms of mafic

Antonyms

Forms of mafic

Adjective
comparativemore mafic
superlativemost mafic
Noun
pluralmafics

Origin of mafic

Blend of magnesium + ferric.

Words formed from mafic

Questions about mafic

What does mafic mean?
Mafic means describing rocks, such as silicate minerals, magmas, and volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks, which contain relatively high concentrations of magnesium and iron.
What part of speech is mafic?
Mafic can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce mafic?
Mafic is pronounced /ˈmafɪk/ (UK).

Words near mafic in the dictionary

  1. mafia state
  2. mafia states
  3. MAFIAA
  4. mafialike
  5. mafias
  6. mafic
  7. mafics
  8. Mafikeng
  9. mafiocracies
  10. mafiocracy
  11. mafiosa

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mafic (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-mafic.ogg.

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