# granular
## English
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɡɹæn.jə.lə(ɹ)/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Adjective

granular (comparative more granular, superlative most granular)
* Consisting of, or resembling, granules or grains
    a granular substance
* 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...
* (transferred sense) Refined or precise
    This should allow for a more granular degree of control

#### Usage notes

* 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, like a grainier or "more granular" photograph with larger and thus more visible grains. In other cases, "more granular" indicates finer, more plentiful grains or divisions. For clarity, one can refer specifically to finer or coarser granularity. In the superlative, one may refer to finest or coarsest granularity.

#### Synonyms

* granulous; see also Thesaurus:granular

#### Coordinate terms

* particulate (adj)

#### Derived terms

* agranular
* dysgranular
* equigranular
* extragranular
* fibrogranular
* granular cell tumor
* granular cheese
* granularisation
* granularise
* granularity
* granularization
* granularize
* granularly
* hypergranular
* infragranular
* intergranular
* intragranular
* juxtagranular
* macrogranular
* mesogranular
* microgranular
* monogranular
* multigranular
* nanogranular
* nongranular
* perigranular
* polygranular
* pregranular
* reticulogranular
* semigranular
* subgranular
* supergranular
* supragranular
* transgranular

#### Related terms

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

#### References

* “granular”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “granular”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “granular”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “granular (adj.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
* ↑ “granular, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
* ↑ Corriher, Shirley O.; "The Brownie Chronicles", published in "The Elements of Chocolate", 2007. Retrieved 6-jan-2009 http://acselementsofchocolate.typepad.com/elements_of_chocolate/ACSBrownieChronicles.html
* ↑ Multimedia Commons Scanning; University of Southern California. Retrieved 6-Jan-2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20090526092045/http://www.usc.edu/libraries/locations/leavey/tutorials/assets/scanning.pdf
* ↑ Foley, Mary Jo; "Microsoft to roll out more granular 'porn mode' with IE 8", ZDNet.com, 25-Aug-2008. Retrieved 6-Jan-2009 https://web.archive.org/web/20081009103410/http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1550

## Catalan
### Etymology 1

From grànul +‎ -ar.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [ɡɾə.nuˈlar]
* IPA: (Balearic) [ɡɾə.nuˈla]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ɡɾa.nuˈlaɾ]

#### Adjective

granular m or f (masculine and feminine plural granulars)
* granular

### Etymology 2

From grànul +‎ -ar.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ɡɾə.nuˈla]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ɡɾa.nuˈlaɾ]

#### Verb

granular (first-person singular present granulo, first-person singular preterite granulí, past participle granulat)
* (transitive) to granulate

##### Conjugation
### Further reading

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

## Interlingua
### Adjective

granular (not comparable)
* granular (in the shape of grains)

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French granulaire.

### Adjective

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

#### Declension
## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡɾanuˈlaɾ/ [ɡɾa.nuˈlaɾ]
* Rhymes: -aɾ
* Syllabification: gra‧nu‧lar

### Adjective

granular m or f (masculine and feminine plural granulares)
* granular
    Synonym: granuloso

### Verb

granular (first-person singular present granulo, first-person singular preterite granulé, past participle granulado)
* (transitive) to granulate

#### Conjugation

$^1$Mostly obsolete, now mainly used in legal language. $^2$Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tú form for the present subjunctive.
These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

### Further reading

* “granular”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10