topsoil
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
-
to spread topsoil on (land)
-
to remove the topsoil from (land)
Discover More
The loss of topsoil through erosion is a major agricultural problem.
Most of the land-based biological activity of the Earth takes place here.
Etymology
Origin of topsoil
Vocabulary lists containing topsoil
Natural Resources and the Environment - Introductory
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Earth Science - Middle School
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Natural Resources and the Environment - Middle School and High School
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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.
In 1982, Agnes Denes planted 2 acres of wheat seed into a thin layer of topsoil she’d spread over lower Manhattan’s Battery Park landfill.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026
One method -- termed "moving mountains" -- was described in 2015 by China's top industry and technology regulator as "first cutting down trees, then clearing weeds and finally stripping away the topsoil, causing irreparable damage".
From Barron's • Dec. 21, 2025
Last week, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced it found high levels of lead and other toxic metals at homes destroyed by the wildfires whose topsoil had been scraped by the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times • May 11, 2025
The dung beetle, which disperses seeds as it rolls its dung balls, fertilizing topsoil and enhancing biodiversity and engineering its environment, normally orients itself using the Milky Way and the moon.
From Salon • Apr. 15, 2025
Everything is collected and reused: old clothes become scarves, old food is dried and saved, and human waste is remixed as topsoil.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
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.
