as in sediment
soil made chiefly of loose sedimentary material that is carried by flowing water and that sinks to the bottom of a river, pond, etc.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of silt
Geoff Emberling, The Conversation, 19 May 2026
Thanks to the cold water temperature, lack of natural light, and the layers of silt covering many of the artifacts, the ship and its contents were in remarkably good condition.
—ArsTechnica, 8 May 2026
Literary Hub, 22 May 2025
All the while, the Guadalquivir River, which allowed ships into Seville, began to silt up, forcing trade southward to the coastal town of Cádiz.
—Walker Mimms, New York Times, 12 Jan. 2023
See All Example Sentences for silt
Noun
Finer clays, silts and coarser sands would all have been deposited by different processes.
—Geoff Emberling, The Conversation, 19 May 2026
Thanks to the cold water temperature, lack of natural light, and the layers of silt covering many of the artifacts, the ship and its contents were in remarkably good condition.
—ArsTechnica, 8 May 2026
Verb
Its primary purpose is not to control people or accumulate power, except perhaps incrementally, in the form of a kind of silting up of canonical importance.
—Literary Hub, 22 May 2025
All the while, the Guadalquivir River, which allowed ships into Seville, began to silt up, forcing trade southward to the coastal town of Cádiz.
—Walker Mimms, New York Times, 12 Jan. 2023
See All Example Sentences for silt
Recent Examples of Synonyms for silt
Noun
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The ship will also carry a 40-meter coring system for extracting deep-sea sediment samples, advanced oceanographic instrumentation, and fiber-rope lifting systems capable of operating across virtually the entire water column—from surface to seafloor.—
Dea Jusufi,
Forbes.com,
13 June 2026
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Is there a strong link between PCBs which are present in sediment at the bottom of waterways in these cleanup sites and cancer?—
Dana Taylor,
USA Today,
12 June 2026
Verb
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Purple blossoms furred the redbuds along his driveway; here and there beneath them were sprays of yellow forsythia.—
Jamie Quatro,
Harper's Magazine,
2 Aug. 2024
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The foils can also retract, meaning that the boats aren't at risk of marine growth, which could otherwise fur them up.—
Julia Buckley,
CNN,
28 July 2022
Noun
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What used to be open water was heading towards alluvium, and oblivion.—
Rob Crossan,
Condé Nast Traveler,
24 Mar. 2026
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The tunnel will traverse multiple difficult subsoil layers: a surface of historical and active landfill materials, including spoil from London tunneling projects and decades-old power station fly ash, a thick layer of alluvium composed of silts, clays, and peat, and, finally, highly variable chalk.—
Theo Burman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 July 2025
Verb
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The shooting came hours after thousands of Knicks fans flooded streets across Manhattan to celebrate the franchise's first NBA title since 1973.—
Michael Sinkewicz,
FOXNews.com,
14 June 2026
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Jubilant Knicks fans flooded the streets of New York Saturday night, crowding into intersections and climbing light poles and buses, to celebrate the team’s first NBA championship win in more than 50 years.—
Alaa Elassar,
CNN Money,
14 June 2026
Noun
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The death toll was so high partly because many people lived in cave dwellings carved into soft loess soil.—
Atharva Gosavi,
Interesting Engineering,
15 June 2026
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Officials said the feature continued downward into the loess beneath the prehistoric site.—
Andrea Margolis,
FOXNews.com,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Campaign financing, taking money from special interests, leads not only to gridlock but also to an inability for political parties to act in good faith on their constituents’ behalf.—
Linh Tat,
Oc Register,
5 May 2026
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Democrats largely oppose Trump’s efforts to seize more control over elections, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump’s demands would gridlock the chamber.—
Lisa Mascaro,
Twin Cities,
10 Mar. 2026
Noun
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There, Li’s laboratory technician Duncan Hauser stripped microbial detritus from the hornwort’s leaves.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
10 June 2026
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At its heart was the Gowanus Canal, an open sewer filled with medical waste, industrial chemicals, shipyard detritus and the occasional dead body.—
Suzanne Van Atten,
AJC.com,
7 June 2026
Verb
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Rising property values for logistics and industrial buildings contrast with the delinquent loans and foreclosures that have swamped the Bay Area’s office, hotel, and apartment markets.—
George Avalos,
Mercury News,
11 June 2026
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Catastrophe bonds were dreamed up in the mid-1990s, after Hurricane Andrew tore through Florida and proved that even the big reinsurers could be swamped by a single storm.—
Dara-Abasi Ita,
Forbes.com,
11 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Silt.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/silt. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
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