Meaning & use
pallasite
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountabletechnical
A rare meteorite made of a metal framework holding yellow-green crystals of olivine.
Grammar: Countable: a pallasite, many pallasites; also used before another noun, as in pallasite meteorite.
Patterns
- a pallasite from somewhere
- a slice of pallasite
A polished slice of pallasite shows glowing green crystals set in metal.
The museum bought a pallasite that fell in a farmer's field.
Collectors prize each pallasite because so few have been found.
Word forms
| plural | pallasites |
|---|
Common combinations
- a slice of pallasite
- She wears a slice of pallasite as a pendant.
- pallasite meteorite
- The pallasite meteorite was found in the desert.
- a rare pallasite
- A rare pallasite was auctioned last week.
- olivine crystals in a pallasite
- Olivine crystals in a pallasite look like gems when cut thin.
- a polished pallasite
- A polished pallasite on the shelf drew every visitor's eye.
- study a pallasite
- Planetary scientists study a pallasite to learn how metal and rock separated inside young asteroids.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stony-iron meteorite
- Stony-iron meteorite is the wider category that includes pallasites and another type, mesosiderites, so it is less specific than pallasite.
- meteorite
- Meteorite names any rock from space that reaches the ground, so it is far broader than pallasite, which names one rare type.
- space rock
- Space rock is an informal, everyday phrase for any meteorite and does not tell you what the rock contains.
Word family
- pallasitic adjective
- relating to or resembling a pallasite
- Pallas iron noun
- the old name for the first described mass of this kind, found in Siberia
Commonly confused: pallasite or palladium? pallasite or meteoroid?
pallasite vs palladium
Palladium is a metallic element used in jewelry and catalytic converters, unrelated to meteorites despite the shared start.
pallasite vs meteoroid
A meteoroid is a small body traveling through space, while a pallasite is a meteorite, the piece that has landed on Earth.
Practice
What does a pallasite meteorite contain?
Choose one answer.
Pallasites are stony-iron meteorites with olivine crystals inside metal. They are not solid iron or ice.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pallasite”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.