See Also: stratification(dictionary)
stratification(encyclopedia)
stratification(dictionary)

stratification (iou)



stratification noun. E17.
[French, from stratifier STRATIFY: see -FICATION.]
a. The action of laying something down in layers, esp. (in tanning, chemistry, etc.) in alternating layers of two materials intended to act one on the other. E17-L19.
b. The placing of seeds close together in moist sand, peat, etc., esp. in layers, to preserve them or promote germination. E20.
The formation, by a natural process, of strata or layers one above the other; spec. the formation of strata in the earth's crust by successive deposits of sediment; the fact or state of existing in the form of strata, stratified condition; the manner in which a thing, esp. a part of the earth's crust, is stratified. Also, a layer or stratum so produced. L18.
b. Electricity. The striated appearance assumed by an electric discharge passing through a highly rarefied gas; each of the striations. Now rare or obsolete. M19.
c. Sociology. The formation and establishment of social or cultural levels resulting from differences in occupation and political, ethnic, or economic influence. M19.
social stratification: see SOCIAL adjective.
d. Biology & Medicine. The thickening of a tissue, calculus, etc., by the deposition or growth of successive thin layers. L19.
e. The existence in a lake or other body of water of two or more distinct layers differing in temperature, density, etc. L19.
f. Production of a stratified charge in the cylinder of an internal-combustion engine. E20.
Statistics. The (usu. notional) division of a population into distinct groups from each of which a proportion of an overall sample may be taken. E20.