a crystalline compound, sodium chloride, NaCl, occurring as a mineral, a constituent of seawater, etc., and used for seasoning food, as a preservative, etc.
table salt mixed with a particular herb or seasoning for which it is named.
garlic salt;
celery salt.
Chemistry. any of a class of compounds formed by the replacement of one or more hydrogen atoms of an acid with elements or groups, which are composed of anions and cations, and which usually ionize in solution; a product formed by the neutralization of an acid by a base.
salts, any of various salts used as purgatives, as Epsom salts.
an element that gives liveliness, piquancy, or pungency.
Anecdotes are the salt of his narrative.
wit; pungency.
a small, usually open dish, as of silver or glass, used on the table for holding salt.
Informal. a sailor, especially an old or experienced one.
He's an old salt who'll be happy to tell you about his years at sea.
to season with salt.
to cure, preserve, or treat with salt.
to furnish with salt.
to salt cattle.
to treat with common salt or with any chemical salt.
to spread salt, especially rock salt, on so as to melt snow or ice.
The highway department salted the roads after the storm.
to introduce rich ore or other valuable matter fraudulently into (a mine, the ground, a mineral sample, etc.) to create a false impression of value.
to add interest or excitement to.
a novel salted with witty dialogue.
containing salt; having the taste of salt.
salt water.
cured or preserved with salt.
salt cod.
inundated by or growing in salt water.
salt marsh.
producing the one of the four basic taste sensations that is not sweet, sour, or bitter.
pungent or sharp.
salt speech.
salt out to separate (a dissolved substance) from a solution by the addition of a salt, especially common salt.
salt away
Also salt down to preserve by adding quantities of salt to, as meat.
Informal. to keep in reserve; store away; save.
to salt away most of one's earnings.
with a grain / pinch of salt, with reserve or allowance; with an attitude of skepticism.
Diplomats took the reports of an impending crisis with a grain of salt.
worth one's salt, deserving of one's wages or salary.
We couldn't find an assistant worth her salt.
rub salt in / into someone's wounds, to make someone's bad situation even worse.
a white powder or colourless crystalline solid, consisting mainly of sodium chloride and used for seasoning and preserving food
(modifier) preserved in, flooded with, containing, or growing in salt or salty water
salt pork
salt marshes
chem any of a class of usually crystalline solid compounds that are formed from, or can be regarded as formed from, an acid and a base by replacement of one or more hydrogen atoms in the acid molecules by positive ions from the base
liveliness or pungency
his wit added salt to the discussion
dry or laconic wit
a sailor, esp one who is old and experienced
short for saltcellar
to make someone's pain, shame, etc, even worse
a person or group of people regarded as the finest of their kind
with reservations; sceptically
efficient; worthy of one's pay
to season or preserve with salt
to scatter salt over (an icy road, path, etc) to melt the ice
to add zest to
to preserve or cure with salt or saline solution
chem to treat with common salt or other chemical salt
to provide (cattle, etc) with salt
to give a false appearance of value to, esp to introduce valuable ore fraudulently into (a mine, sample, etc)
not sour, sweet, or bitter; salty
obsolete rank or lascivious (esp in the phrase a salt wit )
Any of a large class of chemical compounds formed when a positively charged ion (a cation) bonds with a negatively charged ion (an anion), as when a halogen bonds with a metal. Salts are water soluble; when dissolved, the ions are freed from each other, and the electrical conductivity of the water is increased.
See more at complex salt double salt simple salt
A colorless or white crystalline salt in which a sodium atom (the cation) is bonded to a chlorine atom (the anion). This salt is found naturally in all animal fluids, in seawater, and in underground deposits (when it is often called halite). It is used widely as a food seasoning and preservative. Also called common salt, sodium chloride, table salt. Chemical formula: NaCl.
See sailor.
Common table salt is sodium chloride.
First recorded before 900; Middle English; noun and adjective salt, salte, zalt, Old English sealt; cognate with German Salz, Old Norse, Gothic salt, all from Germanic saltam; akin to Latin sal, Greek háls, Slavic ( Polish ) sol-, Celtic ( Irish ) salann ; Middle English verb salten, Old English saltan, sealtan; compare Old High German salzan, Old Norse salta, Dutch zouten; akin to Latin sallere “to sprinkle with salt”; see also halo- ( def. ), salary, sauce
First recorded in 1515–25; by shortening and alteration of assaut, Middle English a sawt, from Middle French a saut “on the jump,” from a- a- 5 ( def. ) + saut “a jump,” from Latin saltus, equivalent to sal(īre) “to jump” + -tus suffix of verbal action; see also halter 2 ( def. ), salacious
The white, grainy stuff that makes food taste more flavorful is salt. You might sprinkle salt on your hot buttered popcorn to make it even more delicious. Although many people eat too much salt, it's actually necessary for life, in both plants and animals. The scientific name for salt is sodium chloride, and it's been harvested from seawater and salt mines for most of human history. When you use salt as a verb, it means "shake salt onto." If someone's known as an old salt, it means they're an experienced sailor — and if they're the salt of the earth, they're honest and reliable.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A few tips: I prefer using unsalted over salted butter since it lets me go crazy with the flaky sea salt, which adds a nice crunch to an otherwise soft snack.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
And it has a spacious coed floor — called the “Main Hall” — with a full-service restaurant and the spectrum of saunas, including a Himalayan salt room, yellow clay room and cold room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
I was skeptical when I first came across a recipe for dates generously filled with slivers of butter, finished off with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
Myka’s fro-yo is served with toppings like extra-virgin olive oil, diced figs, Maldon salt and a hazelnut cream mixed with the crunch of kataifi, an ingredient made famous by Dubai chocolate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
“Don’t worry, I’ll see you get overtime,” she added, pulling a wheel from her cauldron as we stepped in, placing it on a tray prepared with butter, salt, a sharp knife, and two plates.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
The cap on the state and local tax deduction, or SALT, increased from $10,000 to $40,000.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026
Some households with income between $200,000 and $500,000 could save nearly $1,200 on their taxes this year with the larger cap on state and local taxes, known as SALT, according to the Tax Policy Center.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 8, 2026
Altfest has been paying close attention to changes in the state and local tax, or SALT, deduction this year in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
From Barron's ● Nov. 25, 2025
And while he did contemplate signing up for another lease for SALT, he said he had decided it was time to move into food media.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2025
‘The sea, the sea, the o—pen sea, the blue, the fresh;’ but here we halt; Mr. Cornwall knew very little about the sea, or he would have written SALT.
From The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, February 1844 Volume 23, Number 2 by Various
It also released about 35 percent of the fluorine atoms originally bound within the chemicals, converting them into fluoride salts.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 20, 2026
Then I’ll drink a whole liter of water if I need to replenish my body with some electrolytes and some mineral salts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
The hydration break arrived and it wasn't liquid that the underdogs needed, it was oxygen, smelling salts, large brandies.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
Using water from Utah's Great Salt Lake, the team successfully recovered about 50 percent of the lithium contained in the salts remaining after desalination.
From Science Daily ● May 31, 2026
Every so often she’d lift a vial and swirl it, then walk to Miss Peregrine and pass it under her beak—much the way smelling salts are waved under the nose of someone who’s fainted.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
A few tips: I prefer using unsalted over salted butter since it lets me go crazy with the flaky sea salt, which adds a nice crunch to an otherwise soft snack.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
You can very easily make salted corn chips at home with some corn flour, oil, and salt.
From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2026
They switch up their flavors often, but my favorite is the salted caramel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Many try to keep cool by covering their heads, drinking salted water or adjusting work hours to avoid the harshest afternoon sun - but such measures offer only limited relief.
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
After a quick lunch of rice with salted fish, we climb in the truck and move again.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
First, the bad news: “Snowcrete” is the treacherous ice that results when rain, imprecise or nonexistent plowing and insufficient salting turn what was once fluffy white snow into a dense and dirty scourge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 2, 2026
A handful of methods — braising, salting, slow simmering, sweating — can turn the overlooked into something extraordinary.
From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2025
Rock samples dating from 1995 to 1997 were analysed and found to have been tampered with through a process called salting.
From BBC ● May 18, 2024
They could get a job now and start salting away that cash and get some great life lessons along the way.
From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2024
Stupid Marysville had so much snow that winter that the town ran out of money to pay for the plowing and the salting and the sanding.
From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt
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.
