granular

From Late Latin grānulum (“granule, little grain”), diminutive of Latin grānum (“grain, seed”), +‎ -ar.^[1][2] By surface analysis, granule +‎ -ar. Compare French granulaire.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹæn.jə.lə(ɹ)/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

granular (comparative more granular, superlative most granular)

1. Consisting of, or resembling, granules or grains

   a granular substance

2. grainy

   It has a granular structure

   • 1790, Abraham Mills, Some Strata in Ireland and Scotland, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 80

     This Whyn Dyke is bare at the cliffs ſeveral yards in height, and is near nine feet in width. It conſiſts of an inner part of a granular and ſomewhat porous texture...

• It is common to speak of things being "more granular" or "less granular", but this is potentially confusing: something "granular" is composed of small, discrete entities as opposed to being continuous, which is primarily a binary distinction, not a matter of degree. Moreover, it is unclear if "more granular" and "less granular" indicate finer or coarser granularity. For example, granular sugar is so called because it consists of relatively large grains, in contrast with powdered sugar, so "more granular" sugar might be coarser,^[3] like a grainier or "more granular" photograph with larger and thus more visible grains.^[4] In other cases, "more granular" indicates finer, more plentiful grains or divisions.^[5] For clarity, one can refer specifically to finer or coarser granularity. In the superlative, one may refer to finest or coarsest granularity.

• granulous; see also Thesaurus:granular

• particulate (adj)

• coarse-grained
• fine-grained
• grain, granulate, granulation, granule

• “granular”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “granular”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “granular”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

From grànul +‎ -ar.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ɡɾə.nuˈlar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ɡɾə.nuˈla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ɡɾa.nuˈlaɾ]

granular m or f (masculine and feminine plural granulars)

1. granular

From grànul +‎ -ar.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ɡɾə.nuˈla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ɡɾa.nuˈlaɾ]

granular (first-person singular present granulo, first-person singular preterite granulí, past participle granulat)

1. (transitive) to granulate

• “granular” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

granular (not comparable)

1. granular (in the shape of grains)

Borrowed from French granulaire.

granular m or n (feminine singular granulară, masculine plural granulari, feminine and neuter plural granulare)

1. granular

• IPA^(key): /ɡɾanuˈlaɾ/ [ɡɾa.nuˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: gra‧nu‧lar

granular m or f (masculine and feminine plural granulares)

1. granular

   Synonym: granuloso

granular (first-person singular present granulo, first-person singular preterite granulé, past participle granulado)

1. (transitive) to granulate

• “granular”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28