topsoil

plural topsoils · alternative top soil

1. countableuncountableagricultureThe upper layer of soil, typically most fertile and in which it is the easiest to start new plants.

   Little grew on the farm, after the floods from the hurricane washed away the topsoil.

   1 more example

   Without urgent action, the majority of the Earth’s topsoil could be severely degraded or lost before the end of this century. In China, topsoil is being lost fifty-seven times faster than this natural replacement process; in Europe seventeen times faster.

   2013, Al Gore, “Outgrowth”, in The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 183

   Synonyms: callow

present singular third person topsoils · participle present topsoiling · participle past topsoiled · past topsoiled

1. transitiveTo remove the topsoil from.