Translate mosaic | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish Definition of mosaic
noun
1a picture or pattern produced by arranging together small colored pieces of hard material, such as stone, tile, or glass:the mosaic shows the baptism of Christ the walls and vaults are decorated by marble and mosaic [as modifier]:a mosaic floor 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 Biology an individual (especially an animal) composed of cells of two genetically different types.
3 (also mosaic disease) a viral disease that results in leaf variegation in tobacco, corn, sugar cane, and other plants.
verb (mosaics, mosaicking, mosaicked)
[with object] decorate with a mosaic: (as adjective mosaicked)the mosaicked swimming pool combine (distinct or disparate elements) to form a picture or pattern:the digital data were combined, or mosaicked, to delineate counties
