Illustration of disk
- disk 3 D
variants
or disc
plural disks or discs
1
a
: the seemingly flat figure of a celestial body
the solar disk
b
archaic
: discus
2
usually disc
: any of various rounded and flattened animal anatomical structures
especially
: intervertebral disc see also slipped disc
3
: the central part of the flower head of a typical composite made up of closely packed tubular flowers
4
: a thin circular object: such as
a
usually disc
: a phonograph record
b
: a round flat plate coated with a magnetic substance on which data for a computer is stored
5
usually disc
: one of the concave circular steel tools with sharpened edge making up the working part of a disc harrow or plow
also
: an implement employing such tools
variants
or disc
disked or disced; disking or discing; disks or discs
: to cultivate with an implement (such as a harrow or plow) that turns and loosens the soil with a series of discs
Examples of disk in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Jon Michaud, The New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2023
Press the rest of the dough into a round disk on a sheet of parchment paper.
—Genevieve Ko, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Nov. 2023
The thick disk might have existed before the main merger, but the thin disk coincided with the arrival of Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus, Xiang and Rix found.
—WIRED, 12 Nov. 2023
Especially in the previous century, spinal imaging focused on findings associated with degenerative spinal changes, including disk degeneration and disk herniation.
—Scientific American, 18 Oct. 2023
The merger changed everything: the course of the Milky Way’s halo, inner bulge and flattened disk.
—Quanta Magazine, 28 Sep. 2023
The top mat, a yellow gold disk surrounded by deepening shades of green, represents an Oregon sunrise.
—Briana Miller | , oregonlive, 11 Sep. 2023
The tickets were small disks made of clay, called tessera in Latin, which were stamped with seating details and distributed to Roman citizens through institutions, companies, and other organizations.
—Melissa Locker, Travel + Leisure, 9 Nov. 2023
Euclid has also observed a galaxy that is obscured by the bright foreground of the main disk of our own Milky Way.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 8 Nov. 2023
Nancie McDermott, Southern Living, 2 Nov. 2023
To make the process more stealthy, the code drops no files to disk.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 16 Feb. 2023
The exploit chain starts with writing a malicious DLL to disk from the sandboxed Adobe Reader renderer process.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 27 July 2022
The soil can be disked, but preparation is not necessary if the seed is placed in full sun and makes contact with the soil.
—Calvin Finch, ExpressNews.com, 13 Sep. 2019
Quick tip: State biologists enhance turkey habitat at wildlife management areas by planting winter food, such as wheat, alfalfa or rye grass, and renewing plant succession by burning or disking.
—Brian Lovett, Outdoor Life, 3 Feb. 2020
Size: Disk up to 0.7 inch (1.7 centimeters) wide; stalk up to 0.3 inch (0.8 centimeter) tall
IUCN Red List Status:
—National Geographic, 18 Nov. 2016
See More
Noun
Though much eulogized in the decades since it was overtaken by the compact disk, the cassette tape, even in our digital era, is far from dead.
—Jon Michaud, The New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2023
Press the rest of the dough into a round disk on a sheet of parchment paper.
—Genevieve Ko, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Nov. 2023
The thick disk might have existed before the main merger, but the thin disk coincided with the arrival of Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus, Xiang and Rix found.
—WIRED, 12 Nov. 2023
Especially in the previous century, spinal imaging focused on findings associated with degenerative spinal changes, including disk degeneration and disk herniation.
—Scientific American, 18 Oct. 2023
The merger changed everything: the course of the Milky Way’s halo, inner bulge and flattened disk.
—Quanta Magazine, 28 Sep. 2023
The top mat, a yellow gold disk surrounded by deepening shades of green, represents an Oregon sunrise.
—Briana Miller | , oregonlive, 11 Sep. 2023
The tickets were small disks made of clay, called tessera in Latin, which were stamped with seating details and distributed to Roman citizens through institutions, companies, and other organizations.
—Melissa Locker, Travel + Leisure, 9 Nov. 2023
Euclid has also observed a galaxy that is obscured by the bright foreground of the main disk of our own Milky Way.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 8 Nov. 2023
Verb
How To Store Double Pie Crust Wrap and chill the pie dough disks for at least two hours, or up to two days for the freshest results.
—Nancie McDermott, Southern Living, 2 Nov. 2023
To make the process more stealthy, the code drops no files to disk.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 16 Feb. 2023
The exploit chain starts with writing a malicious DLL to disk from the sandboxed Adobe Reader renderer process.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 27 July 2022
The soil can be disked, but preparation is not necessary if the seed is placed in full sun and makes contact with the soil.
—Calvin Finch, ExpressNews.com, 13 Sep. 2019
Quick tip: State biologists enhance turkey habitat at wildlife management areas by planting winter food, such as wheat, alfalfa or rye grass, and renewing plant succession by burning or disking.
—Brian Lovett, Outdoor Life, 3 Feb. 2020
Size: Disk up to 0.7 inch (1.7 centimeters) wide; stalk up to 0.3 inch (0.8 centimeter) tall
IUCN Red List Status:
—National Geographic, 18 Nov. 2016
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'disk.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun
borrowed from Latin discus "discus, kind of plate, gong" borrowed from Greek dískos "discus," in Late Greek also "dish, round mirror, the sun's disk, gong" — more at discus
Verb
derivative of disk entry 1
Phrases Containing disk
Articles Related to disk
Dictionary Entries Near disk
Cite this Entry
“Disk.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disk. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.
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Kids Definition
disk
1 of 2 noun
variants
or disc
1
a
: the central part of the flower head of a typical plant (as a daisy or aster) of the composite family made up of closely packed tube-shaped flowers
b
: any of various rounded and flattened animal anatomical structures
especially
: intervertebral disk
2
: a thin circular object: as
a
usually disc
: a phonograph record
b
: a round flat plate coated with a magnetic substance on which data for a computer is stored
c
: CD
d
3
usually disc
: a tilling implement (as a plow) with sharp-edged circular cutting blades
also
: one of these blades
disk
2 of 2 verb
variants
or disc
: to cultivate (land) with a disc
More from Merriam-Webster on disk
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for disk
Nglish: Translation of disk for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of disk for Arabic Speakers
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