Dictionary

efflorescence en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌɛfləˈɹɛsəns/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from French efflorescence, from Latin efflōrēscō (from ex- (“out”) + flōrēscō (“to blossom”)) + -ence. By surface analysis, effloresce + -ence.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The production of flowers.
2. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) Rapid flowering of a culture or civilisation etc.
   • […] for it could not be expected that a class condemned to increasing degradation of mind and body would be able to bring about the greatest revolution in history, including not only economic changes but the efflorescence of art and civilization. 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 366:
   • 1919, a time when African American hopes for a just future following their service in World War I were dashed by violent reassertions of white supremacy, including the efflorescence and expansion of the KKK into the Midwestern and northwestern U.S. 2015, Heidi Nast, “Pit Bulls, Slavery, and Whiteness in the Mid- to Late-Nineteenth-Century U.S.”, in Rosemary-Claire Collard, Kathryn Gillespie, editors, Critical Animal Geographies, page 138:
3. (countable, uncountable) The formation of a powdery surface on crystals, as a hydrate is converted to anhydrous form by losing loosely bound water of crystallization to the atmosphere.
4. (countable, uncountable) An encrustation of soluble salts, commonly white, deposited on the surface of stone, brick, plaster, or mortar; usually caused by free alkalies leached from mortar or adjacent concrete as moisture moves through it.
5. (countable, uncountable) An encrustation of soluble salts, deposited on rock or soil by evaporation; often found in arid or geothermal environments.
   • I’d hoped that when the black hole of the Donald Trump presidency ended, redirected energy might allow for a cultural efflorescence. So far that hasn’t happened. 2022 August 29, Michelle Goldberg, “The Book That Explains Our Cultural Stagnation”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
6. (countable, uncountable) A redness, rash, or eruption on the skin.

Forms

Deriveds

efflorescent · effloresce

Translations (33)

el εξάνθημα (eruption on the skin) · pl wykwit (eruption on the skin) · fr efflorescence (rapid flowering of a culture) · ro eflorescență (rapid flowering of a culture) · ro eflorescență (formation of a powdery surface) · it efflorescenza (production of flowers) · el άνθηση (rapid flowering of a culture) · fr irruption (eruption on the skin) · pl rozkwit (rapid flowering of a culture) · el άνθηση (production of flowers) · kl aaneq (formation of a powdery surface) · it efflorescenza (formation of a powdery surface) · scn salamastru (formation of a powdery surface) · ca eflorescència (formation of a powdery surface) · ro eflorescență (production of flowers) · fr efflorescence (production of flowers) · pl rozkwit (production of flowers) · it efflorescenza (rapid flowering of a culture) · fr efflorescence (eruption on the skin) · fr efflorescence (formation of a powdery surface) · el εξάνθηση (production of flowers) · ro eflorescență (eruption on the skin) · de Effloreszenz (formation of a powdery surface) · tr çiçek (formation of a powdery surface) · tr çiçek (eruption on the skin) · tr çiçek (rapid flowering of a culture) · tl halintubig (formation of a powdery surface) · ca eflorescència (eruption on the skin) · id eflorensensi (eruption on the skin) · da forvitring (formation of a powdery surface) · pl kwitnienie (production of flowers) · it efflorescenza (eruption on the skin) · de Ausblühung (formation of a powdery surface)