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
ArsTechnica, 8 May 2026
That is because when animals and plants in marine environments die, their remains fall to the bottom of the seabed, slotting between layers of silt and sand.
—Sarah Tamimi, CNN Money, 4 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
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
That is because when animals and plants in marine environments die, their remains fall to the bottom of the seabed, slotting between layers of silt and sand.
—Sarah Tamimi, CNN Money, 4 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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In response to the application, the USACE said the project’s soil erosion and sediment control plan would require review by the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission.—
Joseph States,
Chicago Tribune,
5 June 2026
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Water receptacles across the facility were reported to be dirty, including a bowl shared by 15 goats, a turkey, seven chickens, a llama and a potbellied pig, which contained brownish-black sediment and thick green algae.—
Moná Thomas,
PEOPLE,
4 June 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
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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
-
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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Fans and former costars alike flooded social media with outpourings of appreciation for his talent and grief at his death.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
7 June 2026
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The set design is centered around the flooded, burned down, and demolished house that appears in the album visuals and is somehow still standing despite it all.—
Larisha Paul,
Rolling Stone,
7 June 2026
Noun
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Officials said the feature continued downward into the loess beneath the prehistoric site.—
Andrea Margolis,
FOXNews.com,
9 Feb. 2026
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Many fatalities were linked to the collapse of yaodongs—homes carved into loess hillsides.—
Amanda Castro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Oct. 2025
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
Verb
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The Bay Area hotel industry is being swamped by waves of loan defaults, plunging values and foreclosures as the sector seeks to gain its footing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that rattled the worldwide lodging and travel sectors.—
George Avalos,
Mercury News,
4 June 2026
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Monday afternoon was hot, too, in the 90s in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas, with humidity making the feels-like temperatures swamp us as if in triple digits.—
Howard Cohen
June 1,
Miami Herald,
1 June 2026
Noun
-
In Literature and Painting Playset, 2025, a Cartman-like figure wearing a beret splashes daubs of paint on the screen while a female figure in pilgrim dress delivers a long, disjointed monologue patched together by Kokopeli from Quora posts, art history texts, and other online detritus.—
Theo Belci,
Artforum,
2 June 2026
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The great piles of detritus in the street had completely vanished.—
Amer Matar,
The Dial,
26 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Silt.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/silt. Accessed 10 Jun. 2026.
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