salt the earth
salt the earth verb: to spread salt over arable land to destroy its fertility, especially as a scorched-earth tactic of war and/or genocide.
Verb
salt the earth (third-person singular simple present salts the earth, present participle salting the earth, simple past and past participle salted the earth)
- To spread salt over arable land to destroy its fertility, especially as a scorched-earth tactic of war and/or genocide.
- Synonyms:
- make matters worse
- After destroying or devastating something, to do something additional to make sure it is permanently destroyed, as a precaution or out of spite.
Synonyms of salt the earth
Forms of salt the earth
| third-person singular present | salts the earth |
|---|---|
| present participle | salting the earth |
| past participle | salted the earth |
| past | salted the earth |
Questions about salt the earth
- What does salt the earth mean?
- Salt the earth means to spread salt over arable land to destroy its fertility, especially as a scorched-earth tactic of war and/or genocide.
- What part of speech is salt the earth?
- Salt the earth is a verb.
- What is the past tense of salt the earth?
- The past tense of salt the earth is salted the earth.
Words near salt the earth in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: salt the earth (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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