silo

From Spanish silo, of unclear origin. See Spanish silo for more.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsaɪloʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsaɪləʊ/
• Rhymes: -aɪləʊ

silo (plural silos or siloes)

1. (agriculture) A vertical building, usually cylindrical, used for the production of silage.
2. (agriculture) From the shape, a building used for the storage of grain.

   Synonyms: granary, grain elevator

3. (military) An underground bunker used to hold missiles which may be launched.
   • 1987, Michio Kaku, Daniel Axelrod, To Win a Nuclear War: The Pentagon's Secret War Plans, Black Rose Books Ltd., →ISBN, page 203:

     As a rule of thumb, to reliably destroy a hardened missile silo or communications bunker, a one megaton warhead should land within a 600 foot radius of its target. This will ensure that the enemy silo lies within the crater gouged out by the nuclear blast.

4. (informal, derogatory, management) An organizational unit that has poor interaction with other units, negatively affecting overall performance.
   • 2006, Albert J. Mills, Jean C. Helms Mills, John Bratton, Organizational Behaviour in a Global Context, page 116:

     A silo is created when members in one department or function do not interact with those in another department, even though there might be operational benefits to the interaction.

   • 2021 May 5, Tony Streeter, “Network News: Disused structures "assets to be preserved", say MPs”, in RAIL, number 930, page 23:

     Graeme Bickerdike, a member of campaign organisation The HRE Group, told RAIL: "This infilling and demolition programme - costing much more than repair - has been conceived with no thought for its impact beyond the silos where distant, unaccountable officials manage their spreadsheets.

   • 2024 February 7, Lee Waters tells Conrad Landin, “A mission to improve transport for Wales”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 34:

     "And the mindset of a silo of rail engineers, and a silo of highway engineers, and a silo of bus experts, and a silo of active travel people, you're not going to integrate just because you put them in one organisation.
     "You have to actively look at ways to cross-fertilise that thinking, to get multi-modal projects hard-wired in. And from our view, I see TfW as a behaviour change organisation.

5. (informal, derogatory, informatics) A structure in the information system that is poorly networked with other structures, with data exchange hampered.

   Synonym: information silo

   Our networking is organized in silos, and employees lose time manually transferring data.

6. (derogatory, slang) A group of like-minded individuals who are not exposed to outside opinions or input.

   Synonym: echo chamber

7. (computing) In Microsoft Windows operating systems, a kernel object for isolating groups of threads.

silo (third-person singular simple present siloes or silos, present participle siloing, simple past and past participle siloed)

1. (transitive) To store in a silo.

   Synonym: ensile

2. (transitive) To separate; to isolate.
   • 2024 June 26, Stephanie McNeal, “Influencers Aren’t Getting Famous Like They Used To”, in Glamour‎^[1]:

     Then there’s the fact that platforms like TikTok tend to silo users based on interests. Niche communities (insert hobby here plus Tok) are thriving, and so a person who may be famous on FarmTok or BookTok may have trouble breaking out of the mold.

   • 2025 September 3, Emi Nietfeld, Wired‎^[2], archived from the original on 3 September 2025:

     Sheel Mohnot, a venture capitalist friend of Bi’s who has commissioned twiblings, said the problem is that information is siloed when “each agency has their own database of wombs.”

• silo on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• LOIs, Lois, Soli, soli, soil, oils, Sol I

• IPA^(key): [ˈsɪlo]

Borrowed from Spanish silo.

silo n

1. silo (vertical building for storing grain)

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

silo

1. neuter singular past active participle of sít

   Synonym: selo

• “silo”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “silo”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “silo”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Borrowed from Spanish silo or French silo (itself from Spanish), perhaps from Latin sirus, from Ancient Greek σιρός (sirós); alternatively from Basque zilo, zulo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi.loː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: si‧lo

silo m (plural silo's, diminutive silootje n)

1. a silo (building for storage)

• graansilo
• meelsilo
• raketsilo

• → Caribbean Hindustani: silo

Borrowed from Spanish silo.

• IPA^(key): /si.lo/

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

silo m (plural silos)

1. silo (vertical building for storing grain)
2. silo (underground missile facility)

• “silo”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• lois

• silos (proscribed)

Borrowed from Spanish silo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi.lo/
• Rhymes: -ilo
• Hyphenation: sì‧lo

silo m (plural sili or silos)

1. (agriculture) silo (vertical building for storing grain)
2. (transferred sense, military) silo (underground missile facility)

• silo in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• liso, liso-, lisò, soli

From Spanish silo.

silo m (definite singular siloen, indefinite plural siloer, definite plural siloene)

1. a silo

• kornsilo

• “silo” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Spanish silo.

silo m (definite singular siloen, indefinite plural siloar, definite plural siloane)

1. a silo

• kornsilo

• “silo” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Borrowed from Spanish silo.^[1][2]

• Rhymes: -ilu
• Hyphenation: si‧lo

silo m (plural silos)

1. (agriculture) silo (vertical building for storing grain)
2. (military) silo (underground missile facility)

silo (Cyrillic spelling сило)

1. vocative singular of sila

Of unclear origin. Perhaps from Latin sirum, the accusative form of sirus (“pit for corn, underground granary”) (compare Latin sīromastes (“pit-searcher”), from Ancient Greek σειρομάστης (seiromástēs)), from Ancient Greek σιρός (sirós, “pit for holding grain”). Alternatively, perhaps from Basque zilo, zulo (“grain cellar”). If so, it is a doublet of zulo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsilo/ [ˈsi.lo]
• Rhymes: -ilo
• Syllabification: si‧lo

silo m (plural silos)

1. (agriculture, military) silo

• → English: silo
• → French: silo
• → German: Silo
• → Portuguese: silo

• cilla
• granero
• hórreo
• pósito
• troj

• “silo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

silo

1. ji class_(V) object of si-; that is not it

   Antonym: ndilo

sílo class 7 (plural tílo class 8)

1. lion

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

silo c

1. (agriculture) a silo
2. (military) a silo

• silo in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• silo in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• silo in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈsiloʔ/ [ˈsiː.loʔ]
• Rhymes: -iloʔ
• Syllabification: si‧lo

silò (Baybayin spelling ᜐᜒᜎᜓ)

1. lasso; lariat; rope or cord with a running noose (for catching animals)
2. noose at the end of a lariat
3. act of catching an animal with a lariat

   Synonym: pagsilo

4. (figurative) trick to catch an unsuspecting person; trap

   Synonyms: patibong, umang

• tambang

• soli, liso

silo class 7

1. simple singular of isílo