Meaning & use
mosaic
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Meanings
nouncountable
A picture or pattern made by setting many small colored pieces of stone, glass or tile next to each other.
Grammar: Countable: a mosaic, many mosaics.
Patterns
- a mosaic of something
- a mosaic floor
The church floor is covered in a Roman mosaic of birds and fruit.
The children made a mosaic from broken tiles and glued it to a wall.
A mosaic of blue glass shimmered above the fountain.
nounusually singularfigurative
Something made up of many different parts that together form a varied whole.
Grammar: Usually followed by 'of': a mosaic of cultures.
Patterns
- a mosaic of something
The city is a mosaic of languages and traditions.
Her memoir is a mosaic of small memories rather than one long story.
From the plane, the farmland looked like a mosaic of green and gold.
adjectivebefore a noun
Made of or looking like a pattern of small pieces fitted together.
Grammar: Comes before a noun: a mosaic pattern.
Patterns
- mosaic tiles
- mosaic pattern
They chose mosaic tiles for the bathroom wall.
The artist painted a mosaic pattern across the canvas.
A mosaic floor lay beneath the dust in the ruins.
nouncountablebiologytechnical
In biology, an organism or tissue whose cells are not all genetically the same, or a plant disease that causes patchy leaf color.
Grammar: A specialist use, often as 'mosaic virus' or 'genetic mosaic'.
Patterns
- mosaic virus
- genetic mosaic
The tobacco plants were ruined by mosaic, which left their leaves spotted yellow and green.
A genetic mosaic can have two different eye colors.
Doctors found the child was a mosaic, with some cells carrying the change and others not.
Word forms
| plural | mosaics |
|---|
Common combinations
- Roman mosaic
- The museum has a rare Roman mosaic from a villa.
- mosaic floor
- The mosaic floor was cool beneath her feet.
- mosaic tile
- She picked blue mosaic tile for the kitchen splashback.
- mosaic of cultures
- The country is a mosaic of cultures.
- create a mosaic
- The class will create a mosaic for the school entrance.
Synonyms and how they differ
- patchwork
- It implies pieces stitched or joined together, often unevenly, and it is more of a textile image.
- tapestry
- It suggests woven threads forming a rich pattern, so it feels more elegant when used figuratively.
- collage
- It is an artwork stuck together from different materials such as paper and photographs, rather than small regular tiles.
- montage
- It refers to a combination of images or film clips, and it is not usually made of tiny pieces.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: mosaic or Mosaic?
mosaic vs Mosaic
With a capital M, it means connected with Moses, as in Mosaic law. It has nothing to do with pictures made of tiles.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'mosaic' figuratively?
Choose one answer.
Describing a neighborhood as a 'mosaic of cultures' uses the image figuratively to mean a varied mix. The other sentences refer to actual tile pictures or materials.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mosaic”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.