How to Use igneous in a Sentence

igneous

adjective
  • Within the samples was anorthosite, a type of igneous rock.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 21 Feb. 2026
  • Within the samples was anorthosite, a type of igneous rock.
    — Jackie Wattles, CNN Money, 6 Apr. 2026
  • Down there, salt water begins to mix and move through igneous rocks like olivine.
    — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, 10 June 2019
  • These zones are hot spots for earthquakes and fiery igneous volcanoes.
    — Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic, 15 Mar. 2017
  • The massive cascade tumbles over black-brown basalt rock, an igneous rock born of billion-year-old lava flows.
    — Chelsey Lewis, USA TODAY, 16 Mar. 2018
  • The massive cascade tumbles over black-brown basalt rock, an igneous rock born of billion-year-old lava flows.
    — Chelsey Lewis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 15 Feb. 2018
  • Percy may be directed back to this spot to try and grab some igneous rocks in the future, Farley says.
    — Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 12 Aug. 2021
  • Certain types of igneous rock, such as the crystalline mineral spodumene and jadarite, are rich in the metal.
    — Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 11 Dec. 2021
  • And do the samples include igneous rocks to calibrate dating?
    — Marissa Grunes, Discover Magazine, 6 Apr. 2023
  • Members of species that used to share turf and swap genes got separated by Nature’s igneous paving crews.
    — Elyse Butler, Smithsonian, 2 May 2017
  • Members of species that used to share turf and swap genes got separated by Nature’s igneous paving crews.
    — Elyse Butler, Smithsonian, 29 Apr. 2017
  • These volcanic events, called large igneous provinces, get the blame for a handful of other mass extinctions.
    — Eric Betz, Discover Magazine, 9 Feb. 2018
  • Under that tree was an igneous rock layer with protruding veins of a dark gray metallic-looking substance.
    — Jonathan Schifman, Popular Mechanics, 16 Aug. 2016
  • The repository is in 2 billion-year-old igneous Finnish bedrock.
    — James Conca, Forbes, 31 May 2021
  • Etna also shows off the etymology of igneous, from the Latin word for fire.
    — National Geographic, 6 Jan. 2016
  • The rover investigated the crater floor and found evidence of igneous, or volcanic, rock.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 15 Sep. 2022
  • The hope, though, is that studying Earth’s own large igneous provinces will provide some revelations.
    — Joshua Hawkins, BGR, 27 Nov. 2022
  • It is thought to be a fragment of an igneous crust of a primitive protoplanet from the early solar system.
    — Eva Botkin-Kowacki, Popular Science, 22 Jan. 2023
  • During its first scientific campaign, the rover explored the crater’s floor, finding igneous rock.
    — Julia Musto, Fox News, 16 Sep. 2022
  • Italy's Mount Etna provides a vivid image of one of the birthplaces of igneous rock during a night eruption.
    — National Geographic, 6 Jan. 2016
  • There was clearly some igneous rock, either from volcanic magma or a molten pool created by the meteorite impact that formed the crater.
    — Scott K. Johnson, Ars Technica, 18 Sep. 2023
  • The Early Jurassic igneous rocks in the region, laid down in massive lava flows, have not been as productive.
    — Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 29 Jan. 2020
  • Their results showed that InSight’s data best matches up with a deep layer of igneous, or volcanic, rock that is filled with liquid water.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 12 Aug. 2024
  • The park’s seven-acre boulder field contains piles of large diabase (an igneous rock) stones formed some 175 million years ago that sound like bells when hit with a hammer.
    — Emily Matchar, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Jan. 2025
  • Devils Tower is a massive, 867-foot column of igneous rock towering above the Wyoming plains.
    — Outside Online, 2 Mar. 2022
  • Collected in September 2021, the rover’s first sample is thought to be igneous rock from an ancient lava flow.
    — Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 5 Apr. 2023
  • In Kansas and Oklahoma, the faults are in deep igneous and metamorphic rocks just beneath the sandstone layer used by the injection wells.
    — Scott K. Johnson, Ars Technica, 26 Feb. 2018
  • There, volcanic eruptions long ago covered the land in molten rock, building a layer of igneous rock up to 1,000 feet deep, which could have easily obscured the impact crater.
    — Theresa MacHemer, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Jan. 2020
  • Complex igneous rocks, like granite or carbonatite, appear only later in the geological record, and geologists are not sure why.
    — David Bressan, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
  • The huge quantities of igneous and metamorphic rocks in the Appalachian Mountains mean that the power grids sitting atop them will suffer greatly the next time the sun gets its rage on.
    — National Geographic, 18 Mar. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'igneous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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