clay soil

American  

[klay soil] / ˈkleɪ ˈsɔɪl /

noun

clay soils plural

1. soil that contains a high percentage of clay, making it sticky when wet and slow to drain.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• clay-soil
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• clay soils
  plural

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clay soil

Many British railways are built on clay soil that shrinks in the summer as vegetation sucks out water, and expands in the winter.

From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2025

But many people don’t have that option — in Oklahoma, for example, the clay soil makes building basements expensive, so lots of homes don’t have them.

From Seattle Times ● May 25, 2024

But after many of the new plants died, they learned their yard had mostly heavy, slow-draining clay soil, and that native plants prefer well-draining native soils over enriched garden plots.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2024

Embankment dams—built from materials such as compacted clay, soil and stone—are more common than their concrete counterparts because they’re cheaper, Shannon says.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 15, 2023

Something was wrong with each, however—drainage, sunlight, clay soil.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson