stalactites
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Stalactites grow very slowly.
One easy way to distinguish stalactites from stalagmites is to recall that stalactites “hold tight” to the ceiling of a cave. Stalagmites “might reach the ceiling” of the cave and form a column.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But on the opposite wall there were larger outcrops—sideways stalactites, some small, some a foot in length, like fists sticking from the wall.
From Literature
These included the chemical signatures preserved in stalactites and stalagmites from two Indian caves and water level histories recorded in five lakes across northwest India.
From Science Daily
The light fixtures hang from the ceiling like stalactites.
From Literature
“Why, those are stalactites and stalagmites,” she thought.
From Literature
We walked through tree branches, tangled vines and sharp hanging stalactites, over roots as thick as a human leg, and carcasses of birds, mice and God knows what else in varying states of decay.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
