1
: loose sedimentary material with rock particles usually ¹/₂₀ millimeter or less in diameter
also
: soil containing 80 percent or more of such silt and less than 12 percent of clay
2
: a deposit of sediment (as by a river)
silted; silting; silts
: to become choked or obstructed with silt
—often used with up
the channel silted up
: to choke, fill, cover, or obstruct with silt or mud
Examples of silt in a Sentence
Verb
The entrance to the creek had silted shut.
Recent Examples on the Web
ArsTechnica, 24 June 2025
Seven dump trucks hauled 92 tons of mud and silt from Loveland Pass, which was buried Sunday by a 100-foot-wide and 20-foot-deep landslide, according to a news release from the department.
—Lauren Penington, Denver Post, 18 June 2025
David Blackmon, Forbes.com, 18 June 2025
For his big plan, Yu can use them along with geographic information system (GIS) and satellite imagery to track China’s landscape changes as urbanization spreads, as estuaries and deltas silt up, as water starts to move differently across landscapes and cityscapes.
—Erica Gies, Scientific American, 1 Dec. 2018
See All Example Sentences for silt
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Noun
Narrowing the field One candidate was found just 500 meters off the coast of Rhode Island (designated RI 2394), 14 meters below the surface and buried in nearly 250 years' worth of sediment and silt.
—ArsTechnica, 24 June 2025
Seven dump trucks hauled 92 tons of mud and silt from Loveland Pass, which was buried Sunday by a 100-foot-wide and 20-foot-deep landslide, according to a news release from the department.
—Lauren Penington, Denver Post, 18 June 2025
Verb
Historically, the region itself was created by the natural flooding and silting processes of the Mississippi River, which flows across the breadth of the state before spilling into the Gulf of America.
—David Blackmon, Forbes.com, 18 June 2025
For his big plan, Yu can use them along with geographic information system (GIS) and satellite imagery to track China’s landscape changes as urbanization spreads, as estuaries and deltas silt up, as water starts to move differently across landscapes and cityscapes.
—Erica Gies, Scientific American, 1 Dec. 2018
See All Example Sentences for silt
Cite this Entry
“Silt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/silt. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
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silt
2 of 2 verb
: to make or become choked, blocked, filled, or covered with silt
the river channel silted up
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