Meaning & use
silver
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Meanings
noununcountable
A soft, shiny, pale gray metal that is valued for jewelry, coins, and cutlery and conducts electricity very well.
Grammar: Uncountable as a material: a ring made of silver.
Patterns
- made of silver
- a piece of silver
The ring is made of solid silver.
Silver tarnishes if it is left in damp air.
They found a hoard of ancient silver buried in the field.
adjectivebefore a noun
Having the shiny pale gray color of the metal.
Grammar: Usually goes before a noun: a silver car.
Patterns
- silver in color
She drives a silver hatchback.
His hair had turned silver by his sixtieth birthday.
A silver moon rose above the lake.
nouncountablesport
A medal given to the person or team that finishes in second place.
Grammar: Often used with win or take: win silver.
Patterns
- win silver
- take silver in something
She won silver in the two-hundred-meter race.
The relay team took silver at the championships.
He was disappointed with silver after leading for most of the race.
noununcountable
Knives, forks, and spoons, or other household items made from silver or a similar metal.
Grammar: Uncountable and treated as singular: The silver is in the drawer.
Patterns
- polish the silver
- set the table with silver
Grandmother polished the silver before the guests arrived.
The thieves took the silver from the dining room.
Please put the silver back in the drawer.
Word forms
| plural | silvers |
|---|
Common combinations
- solid silver
- The trophy is solid silver, not plated.
- sterling silver
- She wore a sterling silver necklace.
- silver medal
- He proudly hung his silver medal on the wall.
- silver lining
- The delay had a silver lining: we saw old friends.
- silver spoon
- He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
- polish the silver
- We polish the silver every winter holiday.
Synonyms and how they differ
- argent
- Argent is a rare, literary word for silver, mainly found in poetry and in heraldry.
- gray
- Gray names a dull color, whereas silver implies a metallic shine.
- metallic
- Metallic is a broad word for anything that looks or sounds like metal, while silver names one specific color or metal.
- silverware
- Silverware is the usual word for eating utensils, while silver is the more general material or sometimes an old-fashioned term for them.
Opposites
Word family
- silvery adjective
- having a shiny pale gray look
- silversmith noun
- a person who makes objects from silver
- silverware noun
- knives, forks, and spoons, especially of silver
- silvering noun
- a thin coating of silver on a surface
- silver-plated adjective
- covered with a thin layer of silver
Commonly confused: silver or gray?
silver vs gray
Gray is a dull neutral color, but silver always suggests a metallic shine, as on a coin or a car.
Practice
Which sentence uses silver as a sports result?
Choose one answer.
Winning silver means finishing second and receiving a silver medal. The other sentences refer to cutlery, a color, and the metal itself.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “silver”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.