Metamorphic means changed into new rock by heat and pressure. Metamorphic rock, a metamorphic belt, metamorphic slate.
Limestone becomes marble and shale becomes slate, and the original rock is still in there rearranged rather than melted. It is one of the three great classes of rock beside igneous and sedimentary.
1adjectivemetamorphicChanged into new rock by heat and pressure.
“The mountains are made of metamorphic rock that was once buried deep and squeezed.”
metamorphic is a quality.
Ancient Greek
μεταμόρφωσις
Latin
metamorphōsis
English
metamorphosis
English, today
metamorphic
Built from
From metamorphosis + -ic. metamorphosis First attested in 1533, from Latin metamorphōsis, from Ancient Greek μεταμόρφωσις, from μετά (“change”) + μορφή (“form”). Analyzable as meta- + -morph + -osis
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA