deposit
Americanverb (used with object)
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deposits,
present (3rd person singular)
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deposited,
past participle, past
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depositing
present participle
-
to place for safekeeping or in trust, especially in a bank account.
He deposited his paycheck every Friday.
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to give as security or in part payment.
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to deliver and leave (an item).
Please deposit your returned books with the librarian.
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to insert (a coin) in a coin-operated device.
Deposit a quarter and push the button.
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to put, place, or set down, especially carefully or exactly.
She deposited the baby in the crib.
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to lay or throw down by a natural process; precipitate.
The river deposited soil at its mouth.
verb (used without object)
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deposits,
present (3rd person singular)
-
deposited,
past participle, past
-
depositing
present participle
noun
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deposits
plural
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money placed in a bank account or an instance of placing money in a bank account.
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anything given as security or in part payment.
The boy returned the bottle and got his five-cent deposit back.
They made a deposit on the house and signed a ten-year mortgage.
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anything laid away or entrusted to another for safekeeping.
A large deposit of jewels was stolen from the hotel safe.
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a place for safekeeping; depository.
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something precipitated, delivered and left, or thrown down, as by a natural process.
a deposit of soil.
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the natural sediment of wine in a bottle.
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a coating of metal deposited on something, usually by an electric current.
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a natural accumulation or occurrence, especially of oil or ore.
a mountain range with many rich deposits of gold.
verb
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to put or set down, esp carefully or in a proper place; place
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to entrust for safekeeping; consign
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to place (money) in a bank or similar institution in order to earn interest or for safekeeping
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to give (money) in part payment or as security
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to lay down naturally; cause to settle
the river deposits silt
noun
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an instance of entrusting money or valuables to a bank or similar institution
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the money or valuables so entrusted
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money given in part payment or as security, as when goods are bought on hire-purchase See also down payment
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a consideration, esp money, given temporarily as security against loss of or damage to something borrowed or hired
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an accumulation of sediments, mineral ores, coal, etc
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any deposited material, such as a sediment or a precipitate that has settled out of solution
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a coating produced on a surface, esp a layer of metal formed by electrolysis
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a depository or storehouse
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payable as the first instalment, as when buying on hire-purchase
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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depositsimple
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depositssimple
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have depositedperfect
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has depositedperfect
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am depositingprogressive
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are depositingprogressive
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is depositingprogressive
-
have been depositingperfect progressive
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has been depositingperfect progressive
Past
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depositedsimple
-
had depositedperfect
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was depositingprogressive
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were depositingprogressive
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had been depositingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of deposit
First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin dēpositus “laid down,” past participle of dēpōnere; see depone
Explanation
You are making a deposit when you put money into your bank account. In that sentence, deposit is a noun, but you could express the same action using deposit as a verb. You deposit money into your bank account. The verb deposit can be used to refer to anything that you put down or in place. If you're carrying your keys and groceries from the car, you may deposit those items on the counter. Just be careful you don't end up playing "where are my keys" in the morning, if the counter is not your usual place for depositing them. You can also use deposit when nature does the placing. You find a deposit of gold in the mountain rock or there is sediment deposited at the bottom of a river.
Vocabulary lists containing deposit
Gold Rush: Mining and Metals
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Africa - Introductory
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Africa - Middle School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Let’s say you’re putting down a $2 million deposit on real estate in Zurich.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
Profitability should remain stable, with pressure from lower interest rates and intense deposit competition likely to be cushioned by banks’ strong deposit bases and active balance-sheet management.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Darwood has never won enough votes to get back a £500 parliamentary deposit.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
The bank fixed the error and gave him a deposit slip that read: “Correction, teller debited wrong account.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
All John Reed’s violent tyrannies, all his sisters’ proud indifference, all his mother’s aversion, all the servants’ partiality, turned up in my disturbed mind like a dark deposit in a turbid well.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Lumentum Holdings recently agreed to pay AXT $87 million in deposits to reserve six years of indium-phosphide wafer supply.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported that deposits rose and loan growth was strong in the first quarter of 2026, even as stablecoin rewards already exist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Their vertebrae fused, while mineral deposits caused the tissue between the bones to become abnormally hard.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
The atomic bomb in the crate that a helicopter carefully deposits in Carol’s driveway in the last scene?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
New ore deposits were discovered in western New Mexico, and procurement officials expressed high hopes for a scheme to extract uranium from phosphate processed by fertilizer manufacturers in Florida.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
"Studying the ice deposited there could reveal how water spread and ultimately how Earth's oceans formed."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026
Investigators said the crypto wallet where Yaroch had deposited the money contained roughly $1 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Even if he deposits the $80,000 into an IRA within 60 days, the distribution was $100,000 but only $80,000 was deposited.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 19, 2026
A review by law enforcement of a Chase bank account where one of the checks was deposited showed that $22,487 was deposited in Upland.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
A few minutes later they arrived at another cell, where Zeitoun was deposited.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
In the video individuals are seen from afar putting their hands into the water while workers undertook cleaning work, but it did not clearly show people damaging the pool or depositing anything into it.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
One woman wrote to me a few years ago to say her husband had opened a new bank account and was depositing his paychecks there.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 2026
And in 2024, it skipped depositing a few more contributions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2025
By depositing them directly on solid surfaces, the Auburn team has overcome these barriers, proposing a family of materials structures that could move from theoretical models to real-world devices.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2025
It had cleaned up nicely, despite me depositing the entire contents of my sinuses on it, not to mention a gallon of stress hormones.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
