Definition of dirtnext
1
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as in land
the solid part of our planet's surface as distinguished from the sea and air at the first sound of gunfire we hit the dirt

Synonyms & Similar Words

3
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as in dung
solid matter discharged from an animal's alimentary canal tread carefully, as there's cow dirt all over the pasture

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of dirt Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming As Turner stood on the dirt field, the air was hot — much hotter than during her previous 2013 visit. — Taylor Romine, CNN Money, 4 Oct. 2026 Pierre Ronal Bel stood over his son’s casket, took several steps around the grave and, after a quiet moment of reflection, reached down and grabbed a handful of dirt. — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 4 Oct. 2026 And the most recent announcement that’s set to be released in the first quarter of 2027 is the Shockwave, an electric enduro aimed squarely at riders who'd rather spend their weekends throwing a bike at dirt than commuting through traffic. — New Atlas, 3 Oct. 2026 There was like ten minutes of just chaos, with kids throwing dirt everywhere and getting excited to get little seeds put in their hands, and then being able to bring their plant home, and take care of it. — Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for dirt
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dirt
Noun
  • In Richard’s hands, Creole culture is rooted and migrant, soil and air.
    — Stephen Kearse, Pitchfork, 9 Oct. 2026
  • The footpad cannot extract energy from chemically inert surfaces such as plastic, glass, soil, or organic tissue, prompting the team to add a small onboard supercapacitor to buffer power across dead zones.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 8 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • Badly injured, Captain Machchhar somehow opened the cockpit door, allowing passengers to overpower al-Hammami, and two off-duty pilots to take control of the plane and land it in Saudi Arabia.
    — The Week UK, TheWeek, 10 Oct. 2026
  • Food fried in beef tallow lands crisper and less greasy than food fried in seed oils, with a deeper savory flavor cooks notice right away.
    — Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Charlotte Observer, 9 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • As feminists fought patriarchy’s attempt to render women vulnerable socially and leave us dependent on men for money and more, the all-too-human inevitability of vulnerability and dependence got lost in the muck.
    — Emily Watlington, ARTnews.com, 18 Sep. 2026
  • The film could have only benefited from narrowing its scope away from all the government muck, an attempt to flesh out a mythology for its villains that are scarier simply as faceless, mysterious weapons of mass destruction.
    — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 31 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • But Paddy’s isn’t Sudz, and the Gang’s efforts to soft-pedal their antics to be more in line with those mainstream bars devolved into typical Sunny-style hostility and off-putting grossness.
    — Dennis Perkins, Entertainment Weekly, 28 July 2026
  • All your Dad has to do is fill it and drink—the microfilter membrane will do the rest by removing chlorine odors, dirt, bacteria, and any other grossness floating around in there.
    — Francesca Krempa, Travel + Leisure, 11 June 2026
Noun
  • During the first re-inspection, the inspector saw about 10 pieces of rodent dung under the air-conditioning unit, seven in the hallway by the back door and three under storage by the hallway bathroom.
    — David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 25 Sep. 2026
  • In southern India, for example, villagers are allowing – and even paying – herders to use their land in exchange for dung, the natural fertilizer that farmers need to produce higher-value organic crops.
    — The Christian Science Monitor, Christian Science Monitor, 2 Sep. 2026
Noun
  • Pollinators and birds have found a welcoming haven here, is a spot that was previously barren, rocky ground.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
  • By mid-2013, mass disillusionment with the Brotherhood provided fertile ground for a military comeback.
    — Abdelrahman ElGendy, Time, 6 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • That was again thinking about how that work could mitigate this city problem of sewage runoff in rainwater.
    — Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews.com, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Storms can overwhelm the aging facility, which suffered an equipment breakdown in 2021 that led to a massive amount of raw sewage gushing into the Santa Monica Bay.
    — Sandra McDonald, Los Angeles Times, 2 Oct. 2026
Noun
  • The diaries—particularly in Julian Sachs’s unexpurgated version, which captures Pavese’s alternating earnestness, archness, and pungent vulgarity—pose something of a problem.
    — Max Norman, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026
  • Community outrage about the image, along with online posts calling the mayor a host of vulgarities, spilled into a recent council meeting and is inflaming political divisions within College Park.
    — Reed Williams, AJC.com, 21 Sep. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Dirt.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dirt. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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