sand
noun
the more or less fine debris of rocks, consisting of small, loose grains, often of quartz.
sand
1 American
[sand]
/ sænd /
noun
-
the more or less fine debris of rocks, consisting of small, loose grains, often of quartz.
-
Usually sands. a tract or region composed principally of sand.
-
the sand or a grain of sand in an hourglass.
-
sands, moments of time or of one's life.
At this stage of his career the sands are running out.
-
a light reddish- or brownish-yellow color.
-
Informal. courage; pluck.
verb (used with object)
-
sands,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sanded,
past participle, past
-
sanding
present participle
-
to smooth or polish with sand, sandpaper, or some other abrasive.
to sand the ends of a board.
-
to sprinkle with or as if with sand.
to sand an icy road.
-
to fill up with sand, as a harbor.
-
to add sand to.
The mischievous child sanded the sugar.
idioms
Sand
2
American
[sand, sahn d]
/ sænd, sɑ̃d /
noun
sand.
3
American
abbreviation
Sand
1
British
/ sɑ̃d /
noun
sand
2
British
/ sænd /
noun
-
loose material consisting of rock or mineral grains, esp rounded grains of quartz, between 0.05 and 2 mm in diameter
-
(often plural) a sandy area, esp on the seashore or in a desert
-
-
a greyish-yellow colour
-
( as adjective )
sand upholstery
-
-
the grains of sandlike material in an hourglass
-
informal courage; grit
-
to put a stop to or a limit on
-
there is not much time left before death or the end
verb
-
(tr) to smooth or polish the surface of with sandpaper or sand
to sand a floor
-
(tr) to sprinkle or cover with or as if with sand; add sand to
-
to fill or cause to fill with sand
the channel sanded up
sand
Scientific
/ sănd /
sand
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sandsimple
-
sandssimple
-
have sandedperfect
-
has sandedperfect
-
am sandingprogressive
-
are sandingprogressive
-
is sandingprogressive
-
have been sandingperfect progressive
-
has been sandingperfect progressive
Past
-
sandedsimple
-
had sandedperfect
-
was sandingprogressive
-
were sandingprogressive
-
had been sandingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sand
before 900; Middle English (noun), Old English; cognate with German Sand, Old Norse sandr
Explanation
Sand is a substance that's made of tiny pieces of rock. The sand on some beaches is rough and pebbly, while other sand is smooth and soft. Either way, don't track it into the house. You can find sand on riverbanks, in flower beds, and in sandboxes, among many other places. Grains of sand are composed of rocks and coral that have been worn down over the years. As a verb, sand means "make smooth with sandpaper." There's also an old fashioned colloquial way to use this word, to mean "determination" or "grit." So you could say, "I'm impressed that she had the sand to travel in India by herself!"
Vocabulary lists containing sand
Brown
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Earth Science - Middle School
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Earth Science - High School
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Others carry the earth to a nearby seasonal river, where mostly women crouch in the murky water, washing and sifting mud and sand hoping to detect a tiny trace of the element.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
One member of the Moneyist Facebook Group would draw a line in the sand.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Small bladder stones, sized like grains of sand, can pass on their own.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Within minutes the crowds thinned, leaving long stretches of sand with barely another beachgoer in sight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
“California has an enormous shoreline. See? Top to bottom, stretching over eight hundred miles. Land becomes sand and descends into the ocean.”
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
In May, he unveiled Sublime Sand, a village-like extension across the road, this time with 43 villas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Sand had frequent recourse to lived experiences when writing her 70-plus works of fiction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Colin Thwaites, 61, died at Lochaline Quartz Sand Ltd's underground mine on the Morvern Peninsula in October 2024.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
"Let's take sand as an example. Sand is smooth and convex-shaped, meaning it cannot interlock from grain to grain," PhD student Youhan Sohn said.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 15, 2026
He watched the Sand Snakes, each at a different table.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
“Parents get to relax while their children dig around in the sand. White-collar and blue-collar workers alike get a respite from their jobs.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
“Sand is its own universe. You want local sand. But local sand was not conducive to that feeling.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
“I don’t have friends anymore. Our whole life has turned to sand. When I go out to the prayer area, I feel anxious, and hesitant. I don’t feel right.”
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2024
“I am sleeping on the sand. It’s freezing,” said Soad Qarmoot, who described herself as a cancer patient forced to leave her home in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 9, 2023
"And if there'd been pressure loss, there'd be a starburst pattern in the sand. I don't see anything like that."
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Canada’s growth in May was for a second straight month led by oil and gas extraction, with increased activity in Alberta’s oil sands industry and in support activities for the energy sector.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Those trucks are starting to require regular maintenance, meaning Canada’s product support growth should exceed oil sands production growth of greater than 2%-4%, Goldman says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
The car, known as Babs, set a world record on the sands of Pendine 100 years ago with Welsh racing driver JG Parry-Thomas behind the wheel.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2026
The boy’s first real lesson in the shifting sands comes when, at dinner, he remarks that the war will soon be over, intending it as good news — Dad could come home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2026
In our time we have sifted the sands of Mars, we have established a presence there, we have fulfilled a century of dreams!
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
That appeal could strengthen if Texas embeds tax restrictions in its constitution and guarantees that corporate investments won’t be sanded down by policy changes years later.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2025
Its throwing arm, currently at 12 o’clock, weighs 360 pounds and is not hewn or sanded; knots are visible in the wood.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2025
Over the following months the wood is cut, settled, rounded, spliced, planed, fitted with a brass tip and leather pad, sanded in nine different ways, oiled, and finally waxed, before being complete.
From BBC ● May 2, 2025
How often do you take walks with a loved one? — those things got sanded down.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2024
At thirty her hot brown eyes had turned to agate, and her skin had taken on the sheen of maple struck down, split and sanded at the height of its green.
From "Sula" by Toni Morrison
The pad of my left foot felt as if I’d stepped on a sanding belt.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
That might mean, for instance, sanding, patching and repainting interior doors instead of buying new ones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 10, 2025
Made with real Muscat grape juice, these gummies feature a jelly-like center and are coated in a decent amount of sour sanding.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2025
But for millions the latest content catnip is the simple sight of a man sanding wooden floors.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2024
I soap myself, use the scrub brush and the piece of pumice for sanding off dead skin.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
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.
