silt
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
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silts,
present (3rd person singular)
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silted,
past participle, past
-
silting
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
silts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
silted,
past participle, past
-
silting
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
siltsimple
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siltssimple
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have siltedperfect
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has siltedperfect
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am siltingprogressive
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are siltingprogressive
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is siltingprogressive
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have been siltingperfect progressive
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has been siltingperfect progressive
Past
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siltedsimple
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had siltedperfect
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was siltingprogressive
-
were siltingprogressive
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had been siltingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of silt
1400–50; late Middle English cylte gravel, perhaps originally salty deposit; compare Old English unsylt unsalted, unseasoned, sylting seasoning, syltan to salt, season, Norwegian sylt salty swamp, German Sülze salt marsh, brine
Explanation
Silt is the fine bits of clay and sand that become sediment settling at the bottom of a river or lake. If there's a lot of silt flowing in a river, it looks murky. Silt is the super-fine dirt that you might see at the bottom of a lake or river. When your feet touch silt it feels slimy, and once it’s stirred it up the water looks muddy. Where the Mississippi River enters the Gulf of Mexico, a lot of silt has been deposited and over time has built up a portion of land called the Mississippi Delta. The region surrounding this accumulation of silt is home to music called the Delta Blues.
Vocabulary lists containing silt
Physical Geography - Introductory
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Ancient Egypt - Introductory
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Can You Dig It? Words for Dirt and Soil
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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:
On Earth, sedimentary rocks made from clay and silt can be especially valuable because they are capable of preserving evidence of ancient microbial life.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026
The army has been working for days at other locations to clear away silt and debris to gain access to the tunnels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Workers clearing silt from the flood-struck region say they occasionally come across personal belongings, including gold jewellery.
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
However, significant damage has been caused to roads, it said, with mud, silt, debris and other obstructions.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
Strong currents blew off any sand and silt, and what remained were slopes of bare, craggy rock.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
Premier Marinas, which owns Brighton Marina, has said dredging, which involves removing natural silts that settle in the marina basin, is needed to ensure safe navigation for boats.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2025
The silts and sand are a "valuable local resource" that contractors and local governments use as fill material in residential and industrial projects, the Army Corps said.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 17, 2019
About 70% of the hull has survived, well-preserved in the Nile silts.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 17, 2019
Lake-clogging soil and silts are being loosed from newly deforested lands far upstream, and scientists also warn that climate change is upsetting Himalayan rainfall patterns.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 11, 2016
But Hess’s readings showed that the ocean floor offered anything but the gooey smoothness of ancient silts.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
The system is also 70% silted or clogged after over a century of use, Mr Bonoan told news outlet ABS-CBN News.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2025
When the port silted up, Bladensburg, a few miles downriver, was chartered in 1742 as the new port.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 9, 2021
But never have the lakes been silted as they are today,” says Simiyu.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 13, 2020
Malacca’s port, once one of the richest on earth, silted up, and the city became a historical footnote.
From New York Times ● Apr. 11, 2020
Despite constant maintenance, erosion silted up reservoirs, hurricanes destroyed terraces, and weeds and sediment choked irrigation networks.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
With two-thirds of the Dutch population living below sea level, droughts can quickly become an acute problem in the Netherlands, leading to rivers silting up and hampering water traffic.
From Reuters ● Aug. 3, 2022
"Slowly but surely, care provision is silting up as a result of either higher levels of demand or higher levels of sickness," he says.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2022
After the fence went up, the society turned to repairing the stream, which was both eroding and silting, to the detriment of the habitat.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 14, 2021
Geographers had already noticed that rivers tend to avulse at the foot of mountains, where slopes change dramatically and sediment settles out, silting up the bed.
From Science Magazine ● May 13, 2021
Yes, everything was once water, but the Earth formed out of the oceans by a natural process—similar, he thought, to the silting he had observed at the delta of the Nile.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
