silo

American  

[sahy-loh] / ˈsaɪ loʊ /

noun

• silos
  plural

1. a structure, typically cylindrical, in which fodder or forage is kept.

   The dairy farm's two biggest buildings were the barn and the silo full of feed for the cows.

2. a pit or underground space for storing grain, green feeds, etc.

3. Military. an underground installation constructed of concrete and steel, designed to house a ballistic missile and the equipment for firing it.

4. a group, unit, enterprise, etc., that is isolated from others or functions independently, typically viewed as not deriving the benefits of interrelationships or collaboration.

   Fundraising department silos happen when different teams don't share their ideas and plans.

5.  information silo.   data silo.  Computers. an unintegrated data repository that cannot share its stored data with other systems, subsystems, or applications.

   When an organization deploys a stand-alone solution to improve operations, it risks creating a data silo that may present difficulties when trying to scale throughout the enterprise.

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verb (used with object)

siloed, siloing

1. to put into or preserve in a silo, as fodder, grain, or missiles.

2. to separate or isolate (a group, unit, enterprise, etc.) from others.

   We Americans are now more sheltered and siloed in our sources of news than ever before.

silo British  

/ ˈsaɪləʊ /

noun

1. a pit, trench, horizontal container, or tower, often cylindrical in shape, in which silage is made and stored

2. a strengthened underground position in which missile systems are sited for protection against attack

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• silos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of silo

First recorded in 1825–35; from Spanish: “place for storing grain, hay, etc.,” originally, “subterranean”; further origin uncertain

Explanation

A silo is a cylindrical tower used for bulk storage, like grain silos that stand tall near farms. Another kind of silo is harder to see — military silos are underground. Farming and war are pretty different, but they both involve silos. You may have seen a silo if you've ever visited a farm. A silo is a tall tower with a cylindrical (rounded) shape. The silo holds anything the farmer needs to store in bulk, especially feed for the animals. Other, non-farm silos hold material such as cement or coal. The military type of silo holds something more dangerous: missiles. These silos store the missiles underground until they’re fired.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

silo silos siloed siloing

A fire that September at a Danish customer’s pellet-storage silo created opportunity, according to the suit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

But those timings mean he cannot get the cereal straight to a local silo because they are not open then.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

Salesforce’s customer relationship management data only represent an isolated silo of its customers’ total footprint, Goldberg said.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026

They live in a silo for two, sharing their pain, icing their scars.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026

Magdalys’s mouth fell open as the humongous beak surged out of the silo, followed by the head.

From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older

Towriss was questioned about "blame culture and people forming silos".

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

“People get out of their silos and live the way people used to live, which was more intergenerationally,” Steinig said.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026

But more often, those fighting trafficking live in their own silos, doing their own work, and often failing or refusing to share even scant details with other jurisdictions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

An existing desalination plant with large white silos on Vulcano, one of the archipelago's eight islands, has made it autonomous for drinking water.

From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026

Grain elevators are tall, hollow concrete tubes, like silos.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

One place where information is siloed is in private meetings or workplace chat channels like Slack.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

“For too long, our gender equity work has been siloed without a central entity responsible for coordinating and advancing this work,” Horvath said during the meeting.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

Perplexity said it keeps health chats siloed from general conversations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026

Moskowitz called this view “overly reductive,” arguing that Palantir competes at the operational layer instead of the model layer by organizing siloed enterprise data and embedding AI into workflows.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 18, 2026

When the refuse has been siloed for eight months, and 12 per cent. of the animal's weight is used, there will follow a slight daily increase in weight.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 832, December 12, 1891 by Various

"One thing we often talk about is not siloing HIV and exceptionalising it," he said.

From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2024

Holistic defense involves more collaboration within defense teams, rather than a strict siloing of roles.

From Slate ● May 1, 2023

But it can be more advantageous than siloing ourselves off from others.

From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2023

Since the early 2000s, Piper has refused to let her work be included in all-Black shows, arguing that such siloing further marginalizes Black artists.

From New York Times ● Sep. 16, 2022

Parents are siloing themselves with like-minded friends, which reinforces their thinking.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 30, 2021

Related Words

• cellar
• granary
• storehouse