DIRT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dirt mean? 

• DIRT (noun)
  The noun DIRT has 4 senses:

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

2. the state of being covered with unclean things

3. obscene terms for feces

4. disgraceful gossip about the private lives of other people

  Familiarity information: DIRT used as a noun is uncommon.

• DIRT (adjective)
  The adjective DIRT has 1 sense:

1. (of roads) not leveled or drained; unsuitable for all year travel

  Familiarity information: DIRT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DIRT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

dirt; soil

Hypernyms ("dirt" 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 "dirt"):

indurated clay (hardened clay)

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

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

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

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

sedimentary clay (clay soil formed by sedimentary deposits)

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

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

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)

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

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

mold; mould (loose soil rich in organic matter)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

gilgai soil (soil in the melon holes of Australia)

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

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

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

clunch (hardened clay)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

The state of being covered with unclean things

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

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

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

dirtiness; uncleanness (the state of being unsanitary)

Derivation:

dirty (soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime)

dirty (spreading pollution or contamination; especially radioactive contamination)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Obscene terms for feces

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

crap; dirt; poop; shit; shite; turd

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

BM; dejection; faecal matter; faeces; fecal matter; feces; ordure; stool (solid excretory product evacuated from the bowels)

Domain usage:

dirty word; filth; obscenity; smut; vulgarism (an offensive or indecent word or phrase)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Disgraceful gossip about the private lives of other people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

dirt; malicious gossip; scandal

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

comment; gossip; scuttlebutt (a report (often malicious) about the behavior of other people)

• DIRT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(of roads) not leveled or drained; unsuitable for all year travel

Synonyms:

dirt; ungraded

Similar:

unimproved (not made more desirable or valuable or profitable; especially not made ready for use or marketing)

 Context examples 

Nothing's genuine in the place, in my opinion, but the dirt.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The nails were discoloured and black, while the skin was already grained with dirt which even a scrubbing-brush could not remove.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Airborne and invisible, microscopic pieces of dust, dirt, smoke, soot and liquid droplets often become destructive when they invade the bloodstream.

(Breathing Dirty Air May Harm Kidneys, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The dirt is picturesque, so I don't mind.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

You could throw me in the dirt an' walk on me.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But at the end of several minutes two dogs were struggling in the dirt and the third was in full flight.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

When the fire had burned for an hour, several inches of dirt had thawed.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“The man at Maw’s was main angry, sir, and he threw it back to me like so much dirt,” returned Poole.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Thou rascal, there is dirt on the hem!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Soil liquefaction, which causes this kind of landslide, occurs when the shaking from a large earthquake rips through moist, loose soil, overpowering the friction that normally holds dirt particles together.

(NASA Map Reveals a New Landslide Risk Factor, NASA)