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   Mo·sa·ic

   /mōˈzāik/

   

   noun

   • 1. a picture or pattern produced by arranging together small colored pieces of hard material, such as stone, tile, or glass: "the walls and vaults are decorated by marble and mosaic"
   • ▪ a colorful and variegated pattern: "the bird's plumage was a mosaic of slate-gray, blue, and brown"
   • ▪ a combination of diverse elements forming a more or less coherent whole: "an incompetently constructed mosaic of competing interests"
   • ▪ an arrangement of photosensitive elements in a television camera.
   • 2. an individual (especially an animal) composed of cells of two genetically different types.
   • 3. a viral disease that results in leaf variegation in tobacco, corn, sugar cane, and other plants.

   verb

   • 1. decorate with a mosaic: "he mosaicked the walls, ceilings, and floors"
   • ▪ combine (distinct or disparate elements) to form a picture or pattern: "the digital data were combined, or mosaicked, to delineate counties"

   Word Origin late Middle English: from French mosaïque, based on Latin musi(v)um ‘decoration with small square stones’, perhaps ultimately from Greek mousa ‘a muse’.

   Derivatives

   • 1. mosaicist noun

   Scrabble Points: 10

   • M

     3

   • O

     1

   • S

     1

   • A

     1

   • I

     1

   • C

     3

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