soil
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
soylIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɔɪl
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
A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.
uncountable
The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants.
Material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in which plants can grow (especially with reference to its quality or use)
uncountable
The unconsolidated mineral or organic matter on the surface of the earth that has been subjected to and shows effects of genetic and environmental factors of: climate (including water and temperature effects), and macro- and microorganisms, conditioned by relief, acting on parent material over a period of time. A product-soil differs from the material from which it is derived in many physical, chemical, biological, and morphological properties and characteristics.
That which soils or pollutes; a stain.
Dung; compost; manure.
verb
transitive
To make dirty.
“Don't soil your clothes when you play outside!”
transitivefigurative
To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish; to sully.
reflexive
To dirty one's clothing by accidentally defecating while clothed.
To feed, as cattle or horses, in the barn or an enclosure, with fresh grass or green food cut for them, instead of sending them out to pasture; hence (due to such food having the effect of purging them) to purge by feeding on green food.
To make invalid, to ruin.
intransitive
To become dirty or soiled.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.
Used this way, soil 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 soil
- “Don't soil your clothes when you play outside!”verb
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to make dirty
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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.