sediment
Americannoun
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the matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid; lees; dregs.
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Geology. mineral or organic matter deposited by water, air, or ice.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid
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material that has been deposited from water, ice, or wind
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Geology Solid fragmented material, such as silt, sand, gravel, chemical precipitates, and fossil fragments, that is transported and deposited by water, ice, or wind or that accumulates through chemical precipitation or secretion by organisms, and that forms layers on the Earth's surface. Sedimentary rocks consist of consolidated sediment.
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Particles of solid matter that settle out of a suspension to the bottom of the liquid.
Other Word Forms
- sedimentous adjective
- self-sedimented adjective
Etymology
Origin of sediment
1540–50; < Latin sedimentum, equivalent to sedi- (combining form of sedēre to sit 1, settle) + -mentum -ment
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.
When combined with other impact indicators found in the same sediment layer -- including the black mat, nanodiamonds, and impact spherules -- the shocked quartz discoveries add weight to the impact hypothesis.
From Science Daily
Their work revealed 19 major groupings of valleys, streams, lakes, canyons, and sediment deposits.
From Science Daily
A video he took around 1 p.m. shows bulldozers and other heavy machinery scooping heaps of sediment and moving logs.
From Los Angeles Times
This process removes carbon from the atmosphere and stores it in ocean sediments.
From Science Daily
Researchers collected 50 sediment samples from along the drain, which stretched roughly nine meters and carried waste from a communal latrine into a stream north of the fort.
From Science Daily
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.
