silo
UK/ˈsaɪləʊ//ˈsaɪloʊ/
silo noun: a vertical building, usually cylindrical, used for the production of silage.
Noun
- A vertical building, usually cylindrical, used for the production of silage.
- From the shape, a building used for the storage of grain.
- Synonyms:
- granary, grain elevator
- An underground bunker used to hold missiles which may be launched.
- As a rule of thumb, to reliably destroy a hardened missile silo or communications bunker, a one megaton warhead should land within a 600 foot radius of its target. This will ensure that the enemy silo lies within the crater gouged out by the nuclear blast.1987, Michio Kaku, Daniel Axelrod, To Win a Nuclear War: The Pentagon's Secret War Plans, Black Rose Books Ltd., →ISBN, page 203
- An organizational unit that has poor interaction with other units, negatively affecting overall performance.
- A silo is created when members in one department or function do not interact with those in another department, even though there might be operational benefits to the interaction.2006, Albert J. Mills, Jean C. Helms Mills, John Bratton, Organizational Behaviour in a Global Context, page 116
- Graeme Bickerdike, a member of campaign organisation The HRE Group, told RAIL: "This infilling and demolition programme - costing much more than repair - has been conceived with no thought for its impact beyond the silos where distant, unaccountable officials manage their spreadsheets.2021 May 5, Tony Streeter, “Network News: Disused structures "assets to be preserved", say MPs”, in RAIL, number 930, page 23
- A structure in the information system that is poorly networked with other structures, with data exchange hampered.
- Our networking is organized in silos, and employees lose time manually transferring data.
- Synonyms:
- information silo
- A group of like-minded individuals who are not exposed to outside opinions or input.
- Synonyms:
- echo chamber
- In Microsoft Windows operating systems, a kernel object for isolating groups of threads.
Verb
silo (third-person singular simple present siloes or silos, present participle siloing, simple past and past participle siloed)
- To store in a silo.
- Synonyms:
- ensile
- To separate; to isolate.
- Then there’s the fact that platforms like TikTok tend to silo users based on interests. Niche communities (insert hobby here plus Tok) are thriving, and so a person who may be famous on FarmTok or BookTok may have trouble breaking out of the mold.2024 June 26, Stephanie McNeal, “Influencers Aren’t Getting Famous Like They Used To”, in Glamour
- Sheel Mohnot, a venture capitalist friend of Bi’s who has commissioned twiblings, said the problem is that information is siloed when “each agency has their own database of wombs.”2025 September 3, Emi Nietfeld, Wired, archived from the original on 03 Sep 2025
silo meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
silo in Hindi
- साइलो, सिलो
silo in Tamil
- குதிர், தொம்பை
silo in Marathi
- सायलो, सिलो, सायलो करण्यासाठी
silo in Urdu
- سائلو
More languagesFewer languages
- silo in Bengali
- সাইলো, সিলো
- silo in Telugu
- సిలో, సైలో
- silo in Malayalam
- സിലോ, സിലോയിലേക്ക്
- silo in Kannada
- ಸಿಲೋ
- silo in Punjabi
- ਸਿਲੋ, ਸਾਇਲੋ, ਸਾਈਲੋ
- silo in Gujarati
- સિલો
- silo in Odia
- ସିଲୋ, ସାଇଲୋ, ସାଇଲୋକୁ
- silo in Nepali
- साइलो, सिलो, साइलो गर्न
- silo in Arabic
- صَوْمَعَة ṣawmaʕa
- silo in Malay
- silo
- silo in Indonesian
- silo
- silo in Persian
- سیلو silu
Examples of silo in a sentence
- The silos are rudimentary concrete bins, built for waste to be tipped in, but for no other kind of access.
- The new silos are clearly being built to be discovered.
- Tests and experiments conducted in loose, dry soil, more similar to where US silos are based, produced smaller-diameter, soupbowl-like craters.
Synonyms of silo
Forms of silo
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | silos |
| plural | siloes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | siloes |
| third-person singular present | silos |
| present participle | siloing |
| past participle | siloed |
| past | siloed |
Origin of silo
From Spanish silo, of unclear origin. See Spanish silo for more.
Words formed from silo
Phrases with silo
Words that rhyme with silo
Questions about silo
- What does silo mean?
- Silo means a vertical building, usually cylindrical, used for the production of silage.
- What is silo in Hindi?
- Silo in Hindi is साइलो, सिलो. See Silo meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is silo?
- Silo can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce silo?
- Silo is pronounced /ˈsaɪləʊ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of silo?
- The plural of silo is silos.
Words near silo in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: silo (page history and authors); silo (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); silo (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); silo (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); silo (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); silo (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); silo (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); silo (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); silo (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); silo (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); silo (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); silo (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); silo (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-silo.ogg.
Cite this entry: “silo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/silo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.