Definition

1. Noun:

   • Matter deposited by natural processes: Solid material that settles at the bottom of a liquid or that is transported and deposited by water, wind, or ice.
   • Geological deposits: Material, such as sand, silt, or clay, that is eroded from rocks and later settles in layers, often forming sedimentary rock.

2. Verb:

   • To settle as sediment: For solid particles in a liquid to sink and accumulate at the bottom.
   • To deposit as sediment: To cause or allow particles to be deposited.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • The river's flow slowed, allowing the sediment to settle on the riverbed.
  • Geologists study layers of sediment to understand Earth's history.

• Verb:

  • If you let the muddy water stand, the dirt will sediment.
  • The glacier sedimented large amounts of rock and soil as it retreated.

Advanced Usage

• "in sediment": existing in the form of settled particles.

  • The pollutants were trapped in the sediment at the bottom of the lake.

• "sediment out": (phrasal verb) to separate and settle from a suspension.

  • The fine clay particles will slowly sediment out of the water column.

Variants and Related Words

• Sedimentary (adj): Relating to or formed from sediment.

  • Sandstone is a common sedimentary rock.

• Sedimentation (n): The process of settling or being deposited as sediment.

  • The sedimentation rate in the reservoir is alarmingly high.

Synonyms

• Deposit (n): Material laid down by a natural process.
• Silt (n): Fine sand, clay, or other material carried by running water and deposited as a sediment.
• Dregs (n): The remnants of a liquid left in a container, together with any sediment.
• Precipitate (n/v): (Chemistry) A solid separated from a solution, or to cause this to happen.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Settle out: To sink and form a layer at the bottom (similar to "sediment out").
  • The particles are too light to settle out quickly.

Related Idioms

• "The sediment of time": (Figurative) The accumulated results or memories of past events.
  • The old letters were a sediment of time, preserving fragments of a forgotten life.

Noun

1. matter that has been deposited by some natural process

Verb

1. settle as sediment
2. deposit as a sediment