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Dirt vs. Dust: What's the Difference?

Dirt and Dust Definitions

Dirt

Earth or soil.

Dust

Fine, dry particles of matter.

Dirt

A filthy or soiling substance, such as mud or dust.

Dust

A cloud of fine, dry particles.

Dirt

Excrement.
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Dust

Particles of matter regarded as the result of disintegration
Fabric that had fallen to dust over the centuries.

Dirt

A squalid or filthy condition.

Dust

Earth, especially when regarded as the substance of the grave
"ashes to ashes, dust to dust" (Book of Common Prayer).

Dirt

One that is mean, contemptible, or vile.

Dust

The surface of the ground.
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Dirt

Obscene language or subject matter.

Dust

A debased or despised condition.

Dirt

Malicious or scandalous gossip.

Dust

Something of no worth.

Dirt

Information that embarrasses or accuses.

Dust

Chiefly British Rubbish readied for disposal.

Dirt

Unethical behavior or practice; corruption.

Dust

Confusion; agitation; commotion
Won't go back in until the dust settles.

Dirt

Material, such as gravel or slag, from which metal is extracted in mining.

Dust

To remove dust from by wiping, brushing, or beating
Dust the furniture.

Dirt

Soil or earth.

Dust

To sprinkle with a powdery substance
Dusted the cookies with sugar.
Dust crops with fertilizer.

Dirt

A stain or spot (on clothes etc); any foreign substance that worsens appearance.

Dust

To apply or strew in fine particles
Dusted talcum powder on my feet.

Dirt

Previously unknown facts, or the invented "facts", about a person.
The reporter uncovered the dirt on the businessman by going undercover.

Dust

(Baseball) To deliver a pitch so close to (the batter) as to make the batter back away.

Dirt

(figurative) Meanness; sordidness.

Dust

To clean by removing dust.

Dirt

(mining) In placer mining, earth, gravel, etc., before washing.

Dust

To cover itself with dry soil or other particulate matter. Used of a bird.

Dirt

Freckles

Dust

Fine particles

Dirt

To make foul or filthy; soil; befoul; dirty

Dust

(uncountable) Fine, dry particles of matter found in the air and covering the surface of objects, typically consisting of soil lifted up by the wind, pollen, hair, etc.

Dirt

Any foul of filthy substance, as excrement, mud, dust, etc.; whatever, adhering to anything, renders it foul or unclean; earth; as, a wagonload of dirt.
Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

Dust

Submicron particles in outer space, largely silicates and carbon compounds, that contribute greatly to extinction at visible wavelengths.

Dirt

Meanness; sordidness.
Honors . . . thrown away upon dirt and infamy.

Dust

(obsolete) A single particle of earth or other material.

Dirt

In placer mining, earth, gravel, etc., before washing.

Dust

(countable) The act of cleaning by dusting.

Dirt

To make foul of filthy; to dirty.

Dust

The earth, as the resting place of the dead.

Dirt

The part of the earth's surface consisting of humus and disintegrated rock

Dust

The earthy remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body.

Dirt

The state of being covered with unclean things

Dust

(figurative) Something worthless.

Dirt

Obscene terms for feces

Dust

(figurative) A low or mean condition.

Dirt

Disgraceful gossip about the private lives of other people

Dust

Cash; money (in reference to gold dust).

Dirt

(of roads) not leveled or drained; unsuitable for all year travel

Dust

(colloquial) A disturbance or uproar.
To raise, or kick up, a dust

Dust

(mathematics) A totally disconnected set of points with a fractal structure.

Dust

(transitive) To remove dust from.
The cleaning lady needs a stool to dust the cupboard.

Dust

(intransitive) To remove dust; to clean by removing dust.
Dusting always makes me cough.

Dust

(intransitive) Of a bird, to cover itself in sand or dry, dusty earth.

Dust

(transitive) To spray or cover something with fine powder or liquid.
The mother dusted her baby's bum with talcum powder.

Dust

To leave; to rush off.

Dust

To reduce to a fine powder; to levigate.

Dust

(slang) To kill.

Dust

Fine, dry particles of earth or other matter, so comminuted that they may be raised and wafted by the wind; that which is crumbled to minute portions; fine powder; as, clouds of dust; bone dust.
Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Stop! - for thy tread is on an empire's dust.

Dust

A single particle of earth or other matter.

Dust

The earth, as the resting place of the dead.
For now shall sleep in the dust.

Dust

The earthy remains of bodies once alive; the remains of the human body.
And you may carve a shrine about my dust.

Dust

Figuratively, a worthless thing.
And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust.

Dust

Figuratively, a low or mean condition.
[God] raiseth up the poor out of the dust.

Dust

Gold dust

Dust

To free from dust; to brush, wipe, or sweep away dust from; as, to dust a table or a floor.

Dust

To sprinkle with dust.

Dust

To reduce to a fine powder; to levigate.

Dust

Fine powdery material such as dry earth or pollen that can be blown about in the air;
The furniture was covered with dust

Dust

The remains of something that has been destroyed or broken up

Dust

Free microscopic particles of solid material;
Astronomers say that the empty space between planets actually contains measurable amounts of dust

Dust

Remove the dust from;
Dust the cabinets

Dust

Rub the dust over a surface so as to blur the outlines of a shape;
The artist dusted the charcoal drawing down to a faint image

Dust

Cover with a light dusting of a substance;
Dust the bread with flour

Dust

Distribute loosely;
He scattered gun powder under the wagon

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