sand
noun · verb · adjective
Simple meaning
Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt, forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sandIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsænd
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
uncountable
Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction.
countable
A specific grade, type, or composition of sand.
countableoften in the plural
A beach or other mass of sand.
Dried mucus in the eye's inner corner, perhaps left from sleep (sleepy sand).
countablefigurative
A moment or interval of time; the term or extent of one's life (referring to the sand in an hourglass).
An excuse for tears.
verb
transitive
To abrade the surface of (something) with sand or sandpaper in order to smooth or clean it.
Rub with sandpaper
transitive
To cover with sand.
adjective
Of a light beige colour, like that of typical sand.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction.
Used this way, sand 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 sand
- “The children built a tall castle out of sand at the beach.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The region of the shore of a lake or sea or ocean.
A power tool used for sanding wood.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A shoe consisting of a sole fastened by straps to the foot.
Resembling or containing or abounding in sand.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Small nearly naked African mole rat of desert areas.
European maritime sedge naturalized along Atlantic coast of United States.
Silver-haired shrub of central and southern United States and Mexico.
European maritime sedge naturalized along Atlantic coast of United States.
Shallow-water shark with sharp jagged teeth found on both sides of Atlantic.
Small North American burrowing snake.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Mold consisting of a box with sand shaped to mold metal.
A sedimentary rock consisting of sand consolidated with some cement (clay or quartz etc.).
An elf in fairy stories who sprinkles sand in children's eyes to make them sleepy.
Stiff paper coated with powdered emery or sand.
A windstorm that lifts up clouds of dust or sand.
A mild viral disease transmitted by the bite of the sand fly Phlebotomus papatasii.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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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.