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Synonyms

silt

American  
[silt] / sɪlt /

noun

  1. earthy matter, fine sand, or the like carried by moving or running water and deposited as a sediment.

verb (used without object)

  1. to become filled or choked up with silt.

verb (used with object)

  1. to fill or choke up with silt.

silt British  
/ sɪlt /

noun

  1. a fine deposit of mud, clay, etc, esp one in a river or lake

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. (usually foll by up) to fill or become filled with silt; choke

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
silt Scientific  
/ sĭlt /

  1. A sedimentary material consisting of grains or particles of disintegrated rock, smaller than sand and larger than clay. The diameter of the particles ranges from 0.0039 to 0.0625 mm. Silt is often found at the bottom of bodies of water where it accumulates slowly by settling through the water.

Other Word Forms

  • desilt verb (used with object)
  • siltation noun
  • silty adjective

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

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.

The bee began digging into the fine clay-rich silt that had built up in the darker parts of the cave.

From Science Daily • Apr. 3, 2026

The naturalist's latest documentary Ocean With David Attenborough showed new footage of a bottom trawling net bulldozing through silt on the seafloor and scooping up species indiscriminately.

From BBC • Jun. 8, 2025

Weeds up to 10 feet high threatened to tangle them, while stirred-up silt made it impossible to see a distance of more than a few inches in the water, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 24, 2024

"We examined different sand shapes, finding a sand that would give us hardness, combining elements of clay, silt and particle distribution to make sure that we had a high-binding strength soil," says McKay.

From BBC • Nov. 21, 2024

I look at my four boys, who are the colors of silt, loam, dust, and clay, an infinite palette for children of their own, and I understand that time erases whiteness altogether.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

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.