soil

/sɔɪl/

soil noun: a mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.

Image: http://soils.usda.gov/education/resources/k_12/lessons/color, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

soil (countable and uncountable, plural soils)

(uncountable) A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.
- We bought a bag of soil for the houseplants.
(uncountable) The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants.
(uncountable) The unconsolidated mineral or organic matter on the surface of the earth that has been subjected to and shows effects of genetic and environmental factors of: climate (including water and temperature effects), and macro- and microorganisms, conditioned by relief, acting on parent material over a period of time. A product-soil differs from the material from which it is derived in many physical, chemical, biological, and morphological properties and characteristics.
Country or territory.
- Except during the season in town, she spends her year in golfing, either at St Magnus or Pau, for, like all good Americans, she has long since abjured her native soil.1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major
- Pro-democracy demonstrations in the Thai capital saw Germany's embassy become the focus Monday as the throngs of protesters gathered in front of the mission asked Berlin to investigate whether King Maha Vajiralongkorn is inappropriately conducting state business on German soil.2020 October 27, Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat, Yuda Masayuki, “Thailand protesters query German embassy on absent king”, in Nikkei Asia, Nikkei Inc, retrieved 27 Oct 2020
That which soils or pollutes; a stain.
- And ſince not only a dead Fathers fame, / But more a Ladies honour muſt be touch’d, / Which nice as Ermines will not bear a Soil ; / Let all retire ; that you alone may hear / What ev’n in whiſpers I won’d tell your ear.1690, John Dryden, Don Sebastian, King of Portugal: A Tragedy Acted at the Theatre Royal, London: Jo. Hindmarſh, act V, page 118
- Precleaning treatments in combination with warewashing were evaluated for removing tahini soils.2026 February, Jeremiah Kidd, David Buckley, Peter Teska, Amandeep K. Sandhu, Tina Gettis, Marc Boyer, Laurie Williams, Lauren S. Jackson, “Effectiveness of Manual and Mechanical Warewashing Methods...
A marshy or miry place to which a hunted boar resorts for refuge; hence, a wet place, stream, or tract of water, sought for by other game, as deer.
- As Deere being ſtrucke flie thorow many ſoiles, / Yet ſtill the ſhaft ſitcks faſt, ſo ;1603, John Marston, John Webster, The Malcontent, act III, scene i
Dung; compost; manure.
- night soil
- HAving given you an Account of the way of ordering of Meadows, Paſtures and Arable Land, with ſeveral Sorts of Improvement of them ; I ſhall in the next place proceed to give an Account of the ſeveral ways uſed to improve Land by Manure, Dung, and other Sort of Soils.1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, “Of Manuring, Dunging, and Soiling of Land”, in The Whole Art of Husbandry; Or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land, 2nd edition, London: J. H. for H. Mortlock, and J....
A food preparation with the texture and often color of soil.

Verb (1)

soil (third-person singular simple present soils, present participle soiling, simple past and past participle soiled)

(transitive) To make dirty.
- […]Bad Fruit of Knowledge, if this be to know, / Which leaves us naked thus, of Honour void, / Of innocence, of Faith, of Puritie, / Our wonted Ornaments now ſoild and ſtaind, / And in our Faces evident the ſignes / Of foul concupiſcence ; whence eveil ſtore ; / Even ſhame, the laſt of evils ; of...1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC...
Synonyms:

besmirch, dirty, smirch, assoil, beclart, bedaub, bedirty, imbrue (especially with blood), bedizen, befile
(intransitive) To become dirty or soiled.
- Light colours soil sooner than dark ones.
Synonyms:

dirten, dirty, muddy, sully
(figuratively, transitive) To stain or mar, as with infamy or disgrace; to tarnish; to sully.
- […]They clip vs drunkards, and with Swiniſh phraſe / Soyle our addition, and indeede it takes / From our atchieuements, though perform’d at height / The pith and marrow of our attribute[…]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604...
(reflexive) To dirty one's clothing by accidentally defecating while clothed.
- The child was so scared she soiled herself.
To make invalid, to ruin.

Synonyms:

invalidate, ball up, blight, bumble, botch, bugger up, bungle, contaminate, corrupt, crab
To enrich with soil or muck; to manure.
- For to be kind to the former is traffic ; and in these times men present, just as they soil their ground, not that they love the dirt, but that they expect a crop : and for the latter, the politician well approves of the Indian’s religion, in worshiping the devil, that he may do him no hurt ; how...1676 April 30, Robert South, “A Sermon Preached at Westminster Abbey”, in Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume I, New York: Hurd and Houghton, published 1866, page 176

Noun (2)

soil (plural soils)

(euphemistic, uncountable) Faeces or urine etc. when found on clothes.

Synonyms:

dirt
(countable) A bag containing soiled items.

Noun (3)

soil (plural soils)

A wet or marshy place in which a boar or other such game seeks refuge when hunted.

Verb (2)

soil (third-person singular simple present soils, present participle soiling, simple past and past participle soiled)

To feed, as cattle or horses, in the barn or an enclosure, with fresh grass or green food cut for them, instead of sending them out to pasture; hence (due to such food having the effect of purging them) to purge by feeding on green food.
- to soil a horse

soil meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

soil in Hindi

mixture of sand and organic material: मिट्टी miṭṭī, धरती dhartī, ज़मीन zamīn

soil in Tamil

mixture of sand and organic material: மண் maṇ
mineral or organic material serving as a natural medium for the growth of land plants: மண் maṇ
unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the earth: மண் maṇ
country or territory: மண் maṇ, நிலம் nilam

soil in Urdu

mixture of sand and organic material: مِٹِّی miṭṭī, دَھرْتی dhartī, زَمِین zamīn

More languagesFewer languages

soil in Bengali: মাটি maṭi, ভূমি bhumi
soil in Telugu: నేల nēla
soil in Malayalam: മണ്ണ് maṇṇŭ, മലമൂത്രം malamūtraṁ
soil in Kannada: ಮಣ್ಣು maṇṇu
soil in Punjabi: ਮਿੱਟੀ miṭṭī, مٹی miṭṭī, ਖ਼ਾਕ xāk
soil in Gujarati: માટી māṭī, ભૂમિ bhūmi, જમીન jamīn
soil in Odia: ମାଟି māṭi
soil in Sanskrit: मृदा mṛdā, लिम्पति limpáti, लिप् lip
soil in Assamese: মাটি mati
soil in Nepali: जमिन jamin
soil in Pashto: خاوره xāwra
soil in Tagalog: lupa, sulip, dumi
soil in Arabic: تُرْبَة turba, أَرْض ʔarḍ, اِتَّسَخَ ittasaḵa
soil in Malay: tanah
soil in Indonesian: tanah
soil in Persian: خاکی کردن xâki kardan
soil in Thai: ดิน din
soil in Vietnamese: đất
soil in Myanmar: မြေ mre, မြေဆီလွှာ mrehcihlwa

Examples of soil in a sentence

The footprints of birds do not impact the soil in the way those of dinosaurs do.
Ash from a fireplace can restore minerals to your garden's soil.
She mixed up peat moss, humus, and compost to make potting soil.

All 40 example sentences with soil

Synonyms of soil

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of soil

Forms of soil

Noun
plural	soils
alternative form (obsolete)	soyl
Verb
third-person singular present	soils
present participle	soiling
past participle	soiled
past	soiled

Past tense of soil: soiled

Plural of soil: soils

Origin of soil

From Middle English soile, soyle, sule (“ground, earth”), partly from Anglo-Norman soyl (“bottom, ground, pavement”), from Latin solium (“seat, chair; throne”), mistaken for Latin solum (“ground, foundation, earth, sole of the foot”); and partly from Old English sol (“mud, mire, wet sand”), from Proto-Germanic *sulą (“mud, spot”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid”). Cognate with Middle Low German söle (“dirt, mud”), Middle Dutch sol (“dirt, filth”), Middle High German sol, söl (“dirt, mud, mire”), Danish søle (“mud, muck”). Compare French seuil (“level; threshold”) and sol (“soil, earth; ground”). See also sole, soal, solum. For the sole and soil relation, compare typologically Russian по́чва (póčva) akin to подо́шва (podóšva).

From Middle English soilen, soulen, suylen (“to sully, make dirty”), partly from Old French soillier, souillier (“to soil, make dirty, wallow in mire”), from Old Frankish *saulijan, *sulwijan (“to make dirty, soil”); partly from Old English solian, sylian (“to soil, make dirty”), from Proto-Germanic *sulwōną, *sulwijaną, *saulijaną (“to soil, make dirty”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid”). Cognate with Old Frisian sulia (“to soil, mire”), Middle Dutch soluwen, seulewen (“to soil, besmirch”), Old High German solōn, bisulen (“to make dirty”), German suhlen (“to soil, make dirty”), Danish søle (“to make dirty, defile”), Swedish söla (“to soil, make dirty”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (bisauljan, “to bemire”). Compare sully.

From Middle English soyl, from Old French soil, souil (“quagmire, marsh”), from Frankish *sōlja, *saulja (“mire, miry place, wallow”), from Proto-Germanic *saulijō (“mud, puddle, feces”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid”). Cognate with Old English syle, sylu, sylen (“miry place, wallow”), Old High German sol, gisol (“miry place”), German Suhle (“a wallow, mud pit, muddy pool”).

Words formed from soil

Phrases with soil

16 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with soil

18 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about soil

What does soil mean?: Soil means a mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.
What is soil in Hindi?: Soil in Hindi is मिट्टी (miṭṭī), धरती (dhartī), ज़मीन (zamīn). See Soil meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is soil?: Soil can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce soil?: Soil is pronounced /sɔɪl/.
What is the plural of soil?: The plural of soil is soils.

Words near soil in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-soil.ogg.

Cite this entry: “soil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/soil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.