silt

[ silt ]

/ sɪlt /

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See synonyms for silt on Thesaurus.com

noun

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

verb (used without object)

to become filled or choked up with silt.

verb (used with object)

to fill or choke up with silt.

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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

OTHER WORDS FROM silt

sil·ta·tion, nounsilty, adjectivede·silt, verb (used with object)

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH silt

sand, sediment, silt

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use silt in a sentence

The jar was half-full of tawny silt — Antarctic dust, some from Earth, some extraterrestrial.
What Dust From Space Tells Us About Ourselves|Natalie Wolchover|February 4, 2021|Quanta Magazine
Then in 2001, debris from logging on a nearby ridge rapidly filled the town’s reservoirs with silt and gravel, sending the town scrambling to get a new water system.
Timber Tax Cuts Cost Oregon Towns Billions. Then Polluted Water Drove Up the Price.|by Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting, and Rob Davis, The Oregonian/OregonLive|January 1, 2021|ProPublica
The Meadow of Loudoun is usually a brown silty or sandy loam, with a depth of several feet.
History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia|James W. Head
By rubbing some of this between the fingers, both dry and wet, one can get a fair idea of how a silty soil should feel.
The First Book of Farming|Charles L. Goodrich

The ground behind the wall consisted of a wet silty clay, causing a great pressure against the masonry.
The life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer|Isambard Brunel
The silty soil preferred by the willow is scarce as both streams are actively eroding their channels.
The Forest Habitat of the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation|Henry S. Fitch
A light to heavy silty loam, underlaid by a silty clay loam, is considered best.
Apple Growing|M. C. Burritt

British Dictionary definitions for silt

silt

/ (sɪlt) /

noun

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

verb

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

Derived forms of silt

siltation, nounsilty, adjective

Word Origin for silt

C15: of Scandinavian origin; compare Norwegian, Danish sylt salt marsh; related to Old High German sulza salt marsh; see salt

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

Scientific definitions for silt

silt

[ sĭlt ]

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.

silt

Origin of silt

OTHER WORDS FROM silt

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH silt

Words related to silt

How to use silt in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for silt

Derived forms of silt

Word Origin for silt

Scientific definitions for silt