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.
Related Words
Relevance
as in to fur
Related Words
Dissimilar 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 silt
Samantha Agate, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Apr. 2026
Divers operate in near-darkness amid silt and scattered cannonballs, progressing meter by meter to carefully retrieve what remains of the ship and its contents.
—Samantha Agate, Kansas City Star, 5 Apr. 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
Divers work in near-darkness amid silt and scattered cannonballs, progressing meter by meter to document and recover objects before the site is altered.
—Samantha Agate, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Apr. 2026
Divers operate in near-darkness amid silt and scattered cannonballs, progressing meter by meter to carefully retrieve what remains of the ship and its contents.
—Samantha Agate, Kansas City Star, 5 Apr. 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
-
Small, phallic-looking worms rummaged through ocean-floor sediments while blind swimming beasts flung out whiplike tentacles to ensnare prey.—
Marlowe Starling,
Quanta Magazine,
1 May 2026
-
Helping urban farmers feed hungry New Yorkers City compost is mixed on-site with sandy sediment to create a nutrient-rich blend suitable for growing.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
30 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
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
-
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
-
What used to be open water was heading towards alluvium, and oblivion.—
Rob Crossan,
Condé Nast Traveler,
24 Mar. 2026
-
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
-
During the pandemic, the Fed launched massive bond-buying programs, cut rates to zero, and promised to keep them there, flooding the economy with cash and stoking inflation.—
Eva Roytburg,
Fortune,
3 May 2026
-
If occupancy was falling, there could be concern for flooding the market with too many rentals.—
Kenneth R. Gosselin,
Hartford Courant,
3 May 2026
Noun
-
Officials said the feature continued downward into the loess beneath the prehistoric site.—
Andrea Margolis,
FOXNews.com,
9 Feb. 2026
-
Many fatalities were linked to the collapse of yaodongs—homes carved into loess hillsides.—
Amanda Castro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
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
-
Such a shift would likely gridlock Washington, effectively ending the prospects for further fiscal stimulus before the 2028 presidential election.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Vehicles could be seen abandoned in the floodwater, and the Fisca gas station was swamped by the water.—
Nathan Pilling,
Kansas City Star,
28 Apr. 2026
-
The judges’ caseloads have been swamped even further with the arrival of nearly 1,000 new legal petitions per month challenging immigration detentions in the district, where a concentration of ICE facilities can house nearly 4,000 people at a time, Nunley said.—
Sharon Bernstein,
Sacbee.com,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Some aren’t really worms but mosquito larvae, or detritus worms, but these are found in stagnant water, so would be unlikely to be in your lovingly tended birdbath.—
Joan Morris,
Mercury News,
27 Apr. 2026
-
The National Park Service has carried out some renovations since then, and the pool is also periodically drained to scrub out algae, garbage, goose droppings and other detritus.—
Joe Walsh,
CBS News,
23 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Silt.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/silt. Accessed 7 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
