sediment
sediment Lexical Profile
sediment Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Particulate mineral or organic material, such as sand, silt, or clay, carried by water, wind, or glaciers and deposited on the surface of the land or the seabed, often eventually consolidating into rock.
"Over millions of years, layers of river sediment were compressed into thick beds of sandstone and shale."
Solid matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid, such as the fine particles found at the bottom of a bottle of aged wine or tea.
"The sommelier carefully decanted the vintage port to leave the dark sediment behind in the bottle."
• verb
To settle or cause to settle as solid particles at the bottom of a liquid or on a geological surface.
"The lab technician spun the blood samples in a centrifuge until the heavier cells sedimented at the bottom of the tube."
• Rhymes for sediment
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the mid-16th century from Middle French sédiment or directly from Latin sedimentum ('a settling, sinking down'), derived from the verb sedēre ('to sit, settle'), from the Proto-Indo-European root *sed- ('to sit').