What does "silver" mean?
A lustrous, white, metallic element, atomic number 47, atomic weight 107.87, symbol Ag.
Silver
/ˈsɪl.və/ adj, name, noun, verb
adj, name, noun, verb ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A lustrous, white, metallic element, atomic number 47, atomic weight 107.87, symbol Ag.
- Grammar: silver is listed as adj, name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: a, achroma, achromasia, achromatosis.
- Useful contrasts: golden, base metal, bronze.
- Usage evidence: Speech is silver, but silence is golden.
How to use "silver"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "silver" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "silver" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "silver" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "silver" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "silver" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "a" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "silver", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A lustrous, white, metallic element, atomic number 47, atomic weight 107.87, symbol Ag. uncountable
- 2 silverware eating utensils wordnet
- 3 Coins made from silver or any similar white metal. collective, countable, uncountable
"[…] maybe two or three twenties, a dozen tens, and twenty or thirty fins. The rest is all aces and silver."
- 4 a trophy made of silver (or having the appearance of silver) that is usually awarded for winning second place in a competition wordnet
- 5 Cutlery and other eating utensils, whether silver or made from some other white metal. collective, countable, uncountable
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 a light shade of grey wordnet
- 7 Any items made from silver or any other white metal. collective, countable, uncountable
- 8 coins made of silver wordnet
- 9 A shiny gray color. uncountable
"I'll need some mayonnaise and a silver tin of sardines, a banana."
- 10 a soft white precious univalent metallic element having the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal; occurs in argentite and in free form; used in coins and jewelry and tableware and photography wordnet
- 11 a silver medal countable
- 12 Anything resembling silver; something shiny and white. countable, uncountable
"And next morning they found him dead, with his neck broken, in the bottom of the stone pit, with his beautiful clothes a little bloody, and foul and stained with the duckweed from the pond. But his face was a face of such happiness that, had you seen it, you would have understood indeed how that he had died happy, never knowing that cool and streaming silver for the duckweed in the pond."
Verb
- 1 To acquire a silvery colour.
"Presently all the eastern sky began to silver and shine, and objects before invisible in the west—chiefly the tall towers on Mount Zion—emerged as from a shadowy depth, [...]"
- 2 turn silver wordnet
- 3 To cover with silver, or with a silvery metal.
"to silver a pin; to silver a glass mirror plate with an amalgam of tin and mercury"
- 4 make silver in color wordnet
- 5 To polish like silver; to impart a brightness to, like that of silver.
"For here retir'd the ſinking billows ſleep, / And ſmiling calmneſs ſilver'd o'er the deep."
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 coat with a layer of silver or a silver amalgam wordnet
- 7 To make hoary, or white, like silver.
"Remote from cities liv'd a Swain, / Unvex'd with all the cares of gain, / His head was ſilver'd o'er with age, / And long experience made him ſage; [...]"
Adjective
- 1 Made from silver.
"He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own."
- 2 Made from another white metal.
- 3 Having a color like silver: a shiny gray.
- 4 Denoting the twenty-fifth anniversary, especially of a wedding.
"Mostly, these have been relationships of 10 or less years. However, one respondent has celebrated her silver wedding anniversary."
- 5 Premium, but inferior to gold.
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 Pertaining or relating to elderly persons.
- 7 Having the clear, musical tone of silver; soft and clear in sound.
"a silver-voiced young girl"
Adjective
- 1 expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively wordnet
- 2 having the white lustrous sheen of silver wordnet
- 3 of lustrous grey; covered with or tinged with the color of silver wordnet
- 4 made from or largely consisting of silver wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 An English surname originating as an occupation for a silversmith or a rich man, or for someone having silvery gray hair or living by a silvery brook.
- 2 A surname from German.
- 3 A unisex given name from English from the metal, or transferred from the surname.
"" - - - I'll level with you, Mr. Cummings." "Silver", he corrected. "Sounds like the Lone Ranger's horse," she said."
Example
"Speech is silver, but silence is golden."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "silver"?
Common synonyms include: a, achroma, achromasia, achromatosis, acier, ag.
How do you use "silver" in a sentence?
Speech is silver, but silence is golden.
How do you pronounce "silver"?
Pronounced /ˈsɪl.və/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English silver, selver, sulver, from Old English seolfor, from Proto-West Germanic *silubr, from Proto-Germanic *silubrą (“silver”), of uncertain origin. cognates and etymology discussion Cognate with Scots siller (“silver”), Saterland Frisian Säälwer (“silver”), West Frisian sulver (“silver”), Dutch zilver (“silver”), German Low German Silver, Sülver (“silver”), German Silber (“silver”), Swedish silver (“silver”), Icelandic silfur (“silver”). The Germanic word has parallels in Baltic and Slavic (Old Church Slavonic сьрєбро (sĭrebro), Lithuanian sidabras), Celtic (Celtiberian silaPur-), and outside Indo-European, in Basque zilar and Proto-Berber *a-ẓrəf, but the ultimate origin of the word is unknown. Adjective sense of twenty-fifth wedding anniversary generalized from silver wedding, from German Silberhochzeit, silberne Hochzeit.
Etymology 2
As a surname, anglicised from the German Jewish ornamental surname Silber.