SEDIMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sediment mean? 

• SEDIMENT (noun)
  The noun SEDIMENT has 1 sense:

1. matter that has been deposited by some natural process

  Familiarity information: SEDIMENT used as a noun is very rare.

• SEDIMENT (verb)
  The verb SEDIMENT has 2 senses:

1. deposit as a sediment

2. settle as sediment

  Familiarity information: SEDIMENT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SEDIMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Matter that has been deposited by some natural process

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

deposit; sediment

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

matter (that which has mass and occupies space)

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

alluvial deposit; alluvial sediment; alluvion; alluvium (clay or silt or gravel carried by rushing streams and deposited where the stream slows down)

dregs; settlings (sediment that has settled at the bottom of a liquid)

lees (the sediment from fermentation of an alcoholic beverage)

lick; salt lick (a salt deposit that animals regularly lick)

evaporite (the sediment that is left after the evaporation of seawater)

Derivation:

sedimentary (resembling or containing or formed by the accumulation of sediment)

• SEDIMENT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sediment    ... he / she / it sediments   
Past simple: sedimented   
Past participle: sedimented   
-ing form: sedimenting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deposit as a sediment

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

deposit; fix; posit; situate (put (something somewhere) firmly)

Verb group:

sediment (settle as sediment)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

sedimentation (the phenomenon of sediment or gravel accumulating)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Settle as sediment

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

settle; settle down (settle into a position, usually on a surface or ground)

Verb group:

sediment (deposit as a sediment)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

 Context examples 

The determination of the amount of amorphous sediment present in a sample.

(Amorphous Sediment Measurement, NCI Thesaurus)

A measurement of the amorphous sediment present in a biological specimen.

(Amorphous Sediment Measurement, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Solid, in place rock underlying unconsolidated sediments or other superficial material.

(Bedrock substrate, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

"Vegetation stabilizes the sediments," says Okin.

(Sleeping sands of the Kalahari awaken after more than 10,000 years, NSF)

Using data from the Curiosity rover, the team has determined that, long ago, water helped deposit sediment into Gale Crater, where the rover landed more than three years ago.

(NASA's Curiosity Rover Team Confirms Ancient Lakes on Mars, NASA)

However, the study also sheds light on the reef’s high sensitivity to sediment input and poor water quality.

(Major study reveals Great Barrier Reef’s 30,000-year fight for survival, University of Granada)

Next, they compared the real age of the marine sediments to the deep ocean carbon 14 measurement, giving them a record of ocean circulation patterns in this region over time.

(A new study is the first to measure the time lags between changing ocean currents and major climate shifts., University of Cambridge)

Then the water was too muddy to admit of his seeing the fish, and he was compelled to wait until the sediment had settled.

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

A wind-deposited sediment consisting mostly of silt, the silt commonly derived from finely ground rock washed out of continental glaciers.

(Loess, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

Downward movement of unconsolidated mass of mud, sediment, and rock.

(Debris slide, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)