word of the day: marmoreal

The word of the day is marmoreal:

Etymology:  < classical Latin marmoreus (see marmoreous adj.) + -al suffix¹.

literary.

1. Resembling marble or a marble statue; cold (also smooth, white, etc.) like marble.2. Made or composed of marble. Obs. (OED)

"To me, Andrew and Ralph were figures in a vast allegorical conflict.  Under the white banner of Andrew there was Renault, and true love, and the ancient Greeks, with their lofty rhetoric and marmoreal beauty; under the black banner of Ralph there was Playgirl, and sex, and thoughts about naked men - the messy and confusing present."

 - Daniel Mendelsohn, "The American boy: a famous author, a young reader, and a life-changing correspondence", 7 January 2013 The New Yorker