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dirt

noun

Simple meaning

The part of the earth's surface made up of humus and disintegrated rock.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

durt
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdɝt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

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

  2. A stain or spot (on clothes etc); any foreign substance that worsens appearance.

  3. chiefly us

    Soil or earth.

  4. Previously unknown facts or rumors about a person.

  5. figurative

    Meanness; sordidness.

  6. Freckles.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

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

Used this way, dirt is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use dirt

  • “The children got their clothes covered in dirt playing outside all day.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

dirt roaddirt trackpay dirtdirt floorlike dirtsome dirtdirt pathloose dirt

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • dirtyadjectiveDerived adjective

    Soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • dirt tracknounCompound term

    A racetrack that is not paved.

  • dirt bikenounCompound term

    A lightweight motorcycle equipped with rugged tires and suspension.

  • dirt ballnounCompound term

    A person who has a nasty or unethical character undeserving of respect.

  • dish the dirtverbCompound term

    Wag one's tongue.

  • hit the dirtverbCompound term

    Fall or drop suddenly, usually to evade some danger.

  • pay dirtnounCompound term

    Ore that yields a substantial profit to the miner.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

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

soil

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.