melange (redirected from mélange)

mé·lange also me·lange  (m-läzh)

n.

1. A mixture: "[a] building crowned with a mélange of antennae and satellite dishes" (Howard Kaplan).

2. Geology A metamorphic rock formation created from sediments and rocks scraped off the top of a downward-moving tectonic plate in a subduction zone.

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[French, from Old French meslance, from mesler, to mix; see meddle.]

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melange [may-lahnzh]

Noun

a mixture or assortment: a melange of historical facts and legends [French mêler to mix]

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mélange  (m-läzh)

A metamorphic rock formation created from materials scraped off the top of a downward moving tectonic plate in a subduction zone. Mélanges occur where plates of oceanic crust subduct beneath plates of continental crust, as along the western coast of South America. They consist of intensely deformed marine sediments and ocean-floor basalts and are characterized by the lack of regular strata, the inclusion of fragments and blocks of various rock types, and the presence of minerals that form only under high pressure and low temperature conditions.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

melange - a motley assortment of things farrago, gallimaufry, hodgepodge, hotchpotch, mingle-mangle, mishmash, oddments, odds and ends, omnium-gatherum, ragbag assortment, miscellanea, miscellany, mixed bag, motley, potpourri, salmagundi, smorgasbord, variety, mixture - a collection containing a variety of sorts of things; "a great assortment of cars was on display"; "he had a variety of disorders"; "a veritable smorgasbord of religions"