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# soil

«soil» in Mova's school dictionary: **The top layer of the ground in which plants grow, made of…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (soil — uncountable; soils — kinds of soil); verb (soil, soils, soiled — to make dirty)

### meaning for a pupil

1) The top layer of the ground in which plants grow, made of tiny bits of rock, dead plants and animals, water and air. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/soil/#m1)

2) Land or country: «on British soil». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/soil/#m2)

3) Verb: to make something dirty (formal). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/soil/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science: soil forms slowly from broken rock and rotting plants; worms and tiny living things make it rich; kinds: sandy, clay, loamy; plants take water and minerals from soil through roots; compost makes soil better. In safety: wash hands after gardening — soil can have germs. Phrases: rich soil, sandy soil, clay soil, soil and water, topsoil, garden soil, soil erosion.

### examples

- Plants grow in soil. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/soil/#x1)
- Earthworms make the soil healthy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/soil/#x2)
- Sandy soil lets water drain quickly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/soil/#x3)
- Clay soil is sticky when it's wet. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/soil/#x4)
- Wash your hands after touching soil. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/soil/#x5)
- We put compost in the soil to help the vegetables. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/soil/#x6)
- Tree roots hold the soil in place. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/soil/#x7)
- The soil was dry because it hadn't rained. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/soil/#x8)
- He looked, and saw peasants tilling the soil. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/soil/#x9)

### note

Mostly uncountable: «some soil». Similar words: dirt (US, everyday), earth, ground. Soil is not just dirt: it is full of life. Soil takes hundreds of years to form, so protecting it matters.

### In the corpora

- [Soil gives plants water, grip for their roots and minerals such as nitrogen; without minerals plants grow small and yellow.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/56-how-plants-grow/12/)
- [Hard deer hooves grip soil and snow but slip on smooth ice, so real deer avoid frozen ponds where they can.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/143-bambi-real-deer-rabbits-skunks-and-owls/16/)
- [Buttress roots spread out like walls around many rainforest trees and hold the tall tree up in thin soil.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/157-the-amazon-forest-floor/14/)
- [Mangrove roots break waves and hold the soil, and after the 2004 tsunami, places with mangroves often had less damage.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/178-mangroves-trees-in-salt-water-mudskippers-archerfish-and-swimming-tigers/12/)
- [Here is the surprise: a huge oak does not eat soil to grow.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/251-plants-deeper-leaves-and-sunlight-how-a-tree-is-made-of-air/5/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «soil» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/soil/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.