Word.ws English Dictionary

vitreous

Syllables: vit·re·ous/ˈvɪtriəs/

vitreous adjective: of or resembling glass; glassy.

Adjective

vitreous (comparative more vitreous, superlative most vitreous)

  1. Of or resembling glass; glassy.
    • Pressing his fingertips against the rippled, vitreous surface, he had the odd sensation that were he to apply sufficient pressure the glass would give way like a permeable membrane, and he would be able to pass right through it, but when he pushed harder, the surface remained cold and unyielding.2021, Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness, Canongate Books (2022), page 287
    Synonyms:
    shiny, smooth
  2. Of or relating to the vitreous humor of the eye.
  3. Having a shiny nonporous surface.
  4. Of a semi-crystalline substance where the atoms exhibit short-range order, but without the long-range order of a crystal.
  5. With a glass-like texture, often referring to volcanic rocks that cooled too quickly for crystals to form.
  6. (dated) Positive (of electric charge).
    Antonyms:
    resinous

Noun

vitreous (usually uncountable, plural vitreouses)

  1. (usually) The vitreous humor.

vitreous meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Kannada and Indonesian

vitreous in Tamil

கண்ணாடி போன்ற, கண்ணாடி போல் நொறுங்கும், கண்ணாடிக்குரிய, விழிப்படிகப் பொருள், கண்ணாடித் தன்மை, கண்ணாடித் தன்மையான

vitreous in Urdu

کانچ جیسا

vitreous in Kannada

ಗಾಜಿನಂತಹ, ಪಾರದರ್ಶಕ, ಕನ್ನಡಿಯಂತಹ

vitreous in Indonesian

of or resembling glass
vitreus
of or relating to the vitreous humor
vitreus

Synonyms of vitreous

Antonyms

Forms of vitreous

Adjective
comparativemore vitreous
superlativemost vitreous
Noun
pluralvitreouses

Origin of vitreous

From Middle French vitreux, from Latin vitreus (“glassy, transparent”), from vitrum (“glass”). The terms vitreous (positive) and resinous (negative) electricity were coined in 1733 by Charles François de Cisternay du Fay, who studied the different behaviour of glass and resin when rubbed with silk and fur, respectively.

Words formed from vitreous

Phrases with vitreous

Questions about vitreous

What does vitreous mean?
Vitreous means of or resembling glass; glassy.
What is vitreous in Tamil?
Vitreous in Tamil is கண்ணாடி போன்ற, கண்ணாடி போல் நொறுங்கும், கண்ணாடிக்குரிய. See Vitreous meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is vitreous?
Vitreous can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce vitreous?
Vitreous is pronounced /ˈvɪtriəs/.

Words near vitreous in the dictionary

  1. vitreoretinopathy
  2. vitreosities
  3. vitreosity
  4. vitreotome
  5. vitreotomes
  6. vitreous
  7. vitreous bodies
  8. vitreous body
  9. vitreous enamel
  10. vitreous fluid
  11. vitreous fluids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: vitreous (page history and authors); vitreous (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); vitreous (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); vitreous (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-vitreous.wav.

Cite this entry: “vitreous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vitreous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.