Library / English Dictionary

SOIL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The geographical area under the jurisdiction of a sovereign state

Example:

American troops were stationed on Japanese soil

Synonyms:

soil; territory

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("soil" is a kind of...):

geographic area; geographic region; geographical area; geographical region (a demarcated area of the Earth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in which plants can grow (especially with reference to its quality or use)

Example:

good agricultural soil

Synonyms:

ground; land; soil

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("soil" is a kind of...):

object; physical object (a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "soil"):

wetland (a low area where the land is saturated with water)

greensward; sod; sward; turf (surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots)

scablands ((geology) flat elevated land with poor soil and little vegetation that is scarred by dry channels of glacial origin (especially in eastern Washington))

rangeland (land suitable for grazing livestock)

polder (low-lying land that has been reclaimed and is protected by dikes (especially in the Netherlands))

permafrost (ground that is permanently frozen)

overburden (the surface soil that must be moved away to get at coal seams and mineral deposits)

cultivated land; farmland; ploughland; plowland; tillage; tilled land; tilth (arable land that is worked by plowing and sowing and raising crops)

coastland (land in a coastal area)

bottom; bottomland (low-lying alluvial land near a river)

badlands (deeply eroded barren land)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The state of being covered with unclean things

Synonyms:

dirt; filth; grease; grime; grunge; soil; stain

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("soil" is a kind of...):

dirtiness; uncleanness (the state of being unsanitary)

Derivation:

soil (make soiled, filthy, or dirty)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The part of the earth's surface consisting of humus and disintegrated rock

Synonyms:

dirt; soil

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("soil" is a kind of...):

earth; ground (the loose soft material that makes up a large part of the land surface)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "soil"):

Indian red (a red soil containing ferric oxide; often used as a pigment)

laterite (a red soil produced by rock decay; contains insoluble deposits of ferric and aluminum oxides)

loam (a rich soil consisting of a mixture of sand and clay and decaying organic materials)

loess (a fine-grained unstratified accumulation of clay and silt deposited by the wind)

mold; mould (loose soil rich in organic matter)

clay; mud (water soaked soil; soft wet earth)

bole (a soft oily clay used as a pigment (especially a reddish brown pigment))

podsol; podsol soil; podsolic soil; podzol; podzol soil (a soil that develops in temperate to cold moist climates under coniferous or heath vegetation; an organic mat over a grey leached layer)

prairie soil (a type of soil occurring under grasses in temperate climates)

sand (a loose material consisting of grains of rock or coral)

sedimentary clay (clay soil formed by sedimentary deposits)

silt (mud or clay or small rocks deposited by a river or lake)

boulder clay; till (unstratified soil deposited by a glacier; consists of sand and clay and gravel and boulders mixed together)

tundra soil (a black mucky soil with a frozen subsoil that is characteristic of Arctic and subarctic regions)

wiesenboden (a dark meadow soil rich in organic material; developed through poor drainage in humid grassy or sedge regions)

marl (a loose and crumbling earthy deposit consisting mainly of calcite or dolomite; used as a fertilizer for soils deficient in lime)

regosol (a type of soil consisting of unconsolidated material from freshly deposited alluvium or sand)

residual clay; residual soil (the soil that is remaining after the soluble elements have been dissolved)

surface soil; topsoil (the layer of soil on the surface)

subsoil; undersoil (the layer of soil between the topsoil and bedrock)

alluvial soil (a fine-grained fertile soil deposited by water flowing over flood plains or in river beds)

bog soil (poorly drained soils on top of peat and under marsh or swamp vegetation)

clay (a very fine-grained soil that is plastic when moist but hard when fired)

clunch (hardened clay)

desert soil; desertic soil (a type of soil that develops in arid climates)

caliche; hardpan (crust or layer of hard subsoil encrusted with calcium-carbonate occurring in arid or semiarid regions)

fuller's earth (an absorbent soil resembling clay; used in fulling (shrinking and thickening) woolen cloth and as an adsorbent)

gilgai soil (soil in the melon holes of Australia)

gumbo; gumbo soil (any of various fine-grained silty soils that become waxy and very sticky mud when saturated with water)

humus (partially decomposed organic matter; the organic component of soil)

indurated clay (hardened clay)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make soiled, filthy, or dirty

Example:

don't soil your clothes when you play outside!

Synonyms:

begrime; bemire; colly; dirty; grime; soil

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "soil" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "soil"):

blemish; spot (mar or impair with a flaw)

crock (soil with or as with crock)

mire; muck; muck up; mud (soil with mud, muck, or mire)

splash (soil or stain with a splashed liquid)

muddy; muddy up (dirty with mud)

slime (cover or stain with slime)

smear (stain by smearing or daubing with a dirty substance)

contaminate; foul; pollute (make impure)

foul (make unclean)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

soil (the state of being covered with unclean things)

soiling; soilure (the act of soiling something)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A. temperans is commonly found in soil.

(Acidovorax temperans, NCI Thesaurus)

N. brasiliensis is naturally found in soil and is one of the main causative agents of nocardiosis.

(Nocardia brasiliensis, NCI Thesaurus)

Ammonia is made by bacteria and decaying plants and animals and is found in water, soil, and air.

(Ammonia, NCI Dictionary)

‘Waiter,’ I cried, ‘my box has been soiled! Remove it!’

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is also found in small amounts in soil, water, and many foods.

(Aluminum, NCI Dictionary)

We made a curious figure, had anyone been there to see us—all in soiled sailor clothes and all but me armed to the teeth.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

"The research involved field work in remote locations, lab work associated with analyzing soil microbial DNA and computer analyses using large datasets."

(From tropical to boreal ecosystems, temperature drives functioning, National Science Foundation)

Anthrax is a disease caused by Bacillus anthracis, a germ that lives in soil.

(Anthrax, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

"It has enormous capacity to store water. What we don't know is 'How does the storage space get produced?' Understanding this layer between the soil and rock is important."

(Study explores how rock expands near soil surface in Sierra Nevada, National Science Foundation)

Scientists have known that microbes are important in the breakdown of rocks into soil, but this study goes a step farther, showing that microorganisms have different 'tastes' for rock type.

(Tales from the crypt: Life after death in a graveyard, National Science Foundation)