See backfill in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
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"etymology_text": "From back + fill.",
"forms": [
{
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},
{
"form": "backfilling",
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"present"
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{
"ref": "2020 April 8, Paul Stephen, “ECML dive-under drives divergence”, in Rail, page 43:",
"text": "Clay excavated for the new river channel has been used to backfill the old watercourse, while embankment vegetation was also moved from the old channel to the new in order to preserve a habitat for the rare Four Spotted Moths that live there.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To refill a hole with the material dug out of it."
],
"id": "en-backfill-en-verb-MSlzqm46",
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"refill",
"refill"
],
[
"hole",
"hole"
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{
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}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "We backfilled the cistern with pea gravel to discourage its use as a refuse container."
}
],
"glosses": [
"To refill an excavation unit to restore the former ground surface and/or to preserve the unit and make it recognizable as having been excavated."
],
"id": "en-backfill-en-verb-3dvm9hBq",
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[
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[
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"(archaeology) To refill an excavation unit to restore the former ground surface and/or to preserve the unit and make it recognizable as having been excavated."
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{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
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],
"glosses": [
"To provide reserve support."
],
"id": "en-backfill-en-verb-3IpL2kKU",
"raw_glosses": [
"(US) To provide reserve support."
],
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "American English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "The company backfilled Joe's position after he was terminated.",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To replenish or restock due to attrition or loss."
],
"id": "en-backfill-en-verb-oOGI-ZbI",
"links": [
[
"replenish",
"replenish"
],
[
"restock",
"restock"
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[
"attrition",
"attrition"
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],
"raw_glosses": [
"(US) To replenish or restock due to attrition or loss."
],
"tags": [
"US"
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},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Gaming",
"orig": "en:Gaming",
"parents": [
"Games",
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"Human activity",
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"Human",
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],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "17 5 5 2 15 20 4 5 27",
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"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
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"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "18 3 3 3 17 21 3 3 29",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "20 3 3 2 18 21 2 2 28",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
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],
"glosses": [
"To enter an online game that's already in progress, replacing a player who left early."
],
"id": "en-backfill-en-verb--OSMC6QC",
"links": [
[
"gaming",
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"raw_glosses": [
"(gaming) To enter an online game that's already in progress, replacing a player who left early."
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"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "back-fill"
}
],
"word": "backfill"
}
{
"derived": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0",
"word": "backfill bias"
}
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"etymology_templates": [
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"args": {
"1": "en",
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"expansion": "back + fill",
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],
"etymology_text": "From back + fill.",
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"form": "backfills",
"tags": [
"plural"
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{
"args": {
"1": "~"
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],
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"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"glosses": [
"The material that has been used to refill an excavation."
],
"id": "en-backfill-en-noun-c77QEdxc",
"links": [
[
"excavation",
"excavation"
]
],
"tags": [
"countable",
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]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "American English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Reserve support personnel."
],
"id": "en-backfill-en-noun-5eGjuFnl",
"raw_glosses": [
"(US) Reserve support personnel."
],
"tags": [
"US",
"countable",
"uncountable"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "American English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"glosses": [
"That which backfills; a replacement."
],
"id": "en-backfill-en-noun-MSyBynFU",
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[
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],
"raw_glosses": [
"(US) That which backfills; a replacement."
],
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},
{
"categories": [
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"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Literature",
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"Entertainment",
"Writing",
"Society",
"Human behaviour",
"Language",
"All topics",
"Human",
"Communication",
"Fundamental"
],
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}
],
"glosses": [
"Material in a story set earlier in the past, providing history or context for the current action."
],
"id": "en-backfill-en-noun-HxE9L57P",
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"literature",
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],
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"(literature) Material in a story set earlier in the past, providing history or context for the current action."
],
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"countable",
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],
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"literature",
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"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "back-fill"
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"word": "backfill"
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"English verbs",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
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"2": "back",
"3": "fill"
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"expansion": "back + fill",
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],
"etymology_text": "From back + fill.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "backfills",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "backfilling",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "backfilled",
"tags": [
"participle",
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},
{
"form": "backfilled",
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"past"
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"args": {},
"expansion": "backfill (third-person singular simple present backfills, present participle backfilling, simple past and past participle backfilled)",
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{
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{
"ref": "2020 April 8, Paul Stephen, “ECML dive-under drives divergence”, in Rail, page 43:",
"text": "Clay excavated for the new river channel has been used to backfill the old watercourse, while embankment vegetation was also moved from the old channel to the new in order to preserve a habitat for the rare Four Spotted Moths that live there.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To refill a hole with the material dug out of it."
],
"links": [
[
"refill",
"refill"
],
[
"hole",
"hole"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"en:Archaeology"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "We backfilled the cistern with pea gravel to discourage its use as a refuse container."
}
],
"glosses": [
"To refill an excavation unit to restore the former ground surface and/or to preserve the unit and make it recognizable as having been excavated."
],
"links": [
[
"archaeology",
"archaeology"
],
[
"excavation unit",
"excavation unit"
]
],
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"(archaeology) To refill an excavation unit to restore the former ground surface and/or to preserve the unit and make it recognizable as having been excavated."
],
"topics": [
"archaeology",
"history",
"human-sciences",
"sciences"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"American English"
],
"glosses": [
"To provide reserve support."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(US) To provide reserve support."
],
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"American English",
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "The company backfilled Joe's position after he was terminated.",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To replenish or restock due to attrition or loss."
],
"links": [
[
"replenish",
"replenish"
],
[
"restock",
"restock"
],
[
"attrition",
"attrition"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(US) To replenish or restock due to attrition or loss."
],
"tags": [
"US"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"en:Gaming"
],
"glosses": [
"To enter an online game that's already in progress, replacing a player who left early."
],
"links": [
[
"gaming",
"gaming#Noun"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(gaming) To enter an online game that's already in progress, replacing a player who left early."
],
"topics": [
"games",
"gaming"
]
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "back-fill"
}
],
"word": "backfill"
}
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"English verbs",
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],
"derived": [
{
"word": "backfill bias"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
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"1": "en",
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"expansion": "back + fill",
"name": "af"
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],
"etymology_text": "From back + fill.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "backfills",
"tags": [
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]
}
],
"head_templates": [
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"args": {
"1": "~"
},
"expansion": "backfill (countable and uncountable, plural backfills)",
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],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"glosses": [
"The material that has been used to refill an excavation."
],
"links": [
[
"excavation",
"excavation"
]
],
"tags": [
"countable",
"uncountable"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"American English"
],
"glosses": [
"Reserve support personnel."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(US) Reserve support personnel."
],
"tags": [
"US",
"countable",
"uncountable"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"American English"
],
"glosses": [
"That which backfills; a replacement."
],
"links": [
[
"replacement",
"replacement"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(US) That which backfills; a replacement."
],
"tags": [
"US",
"countable",
"uncountable"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"en:Literature"
],
"glosses": [
"Material in a story set earlier in the past, providing history or context for the current action."
],
"links": [
[
"literature",
"literature"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(literature) Material in a story set earlier in the past, providing history or context for the current action."
],
"tags": [
"countable",
"uncountable"
],
"topics": [
"literature",
"media",
"publishing"
]
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "back-fill"
}
],
"word": "backfill"
}
Download raw JSONL data for backfill meaning in English (4.7kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (c15a5ce and 5c11237). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.