stratum

3 definitions found

stratum - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Stratum \Stra"tum\, n.; pl. E. Stratums, L. Strata. The
     latter is more common. [L., from sternere, stratum, to
     spread; akin to Gr. ? to spread, strew. See Strew, and cf.
     Consternation, Estrade, Prostrate, Stratus,
     Street.]
     1. (Geol.) A bed of earth or rock of one kind, formed by
        natural causes, and consisting usually of a series of
        layers, which form a rock as it lies between beds of other
        kinds. Also used figuratively.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A bed or layer artificially made; a course.
        [1913 Webster]

stratum - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  stratum
      n 1: one of several parallel layers of material arranged one on
           top of another (such as a layer of tissue or cells in an
           organism or a layer of sedimentary rock)
      2: people having the same social, economic, or educational
         status; "the working class"; "an emerging professional class"
         [syn: class, stratum, social class, socio-economic   class
         ]
      3: an abstract place usually conceived as having depth; "a good
         actor communicates on several levels"; "a simile has at least
         two layers of meaning"; "the mind functions on many strata
         simultaneously" [syn: level, layer, stratum]

stratum - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  83 Moby Thesaurus words for "stratum":
     Appleton layer, F layer, Heaviside-Kennelly layer, Van Allen belt,
     band, bed, bedding, belt, blood, bracket, branch, caste, category,
     chemosphere, clan, class, couche, course, deck, division, estate,
     floor, gallery, grade, group, grouping, head, heading, ionosphere,
     isothermal region, kin, label, layer, ledge, level,
     lower atmosphere, measures, order, outer atmosphere, overlayer,
     overstory, photosphere, pigeonhole, plane, position, predicament,
     race, rank, rating, rubric, seam, section, sept, set, shelf, stage,
     standing, station, status, step, story, strain, stratification,
     stratosphere, subdivision, subgroup, suborder, substratosphere,
     substratum, superstratum, table, thickness, tier, title, topsoil,
     tropopause, troposphere, underlayer, understory, understratum,
     upper atmosphere, vein, zone