clod

Whether it's a twig, a pebble or a clod of dirt, the randomness you get on a large scale is the same.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2024

Tau proteins play an important role in stabilizing neurons, but with age, they can start to clod together, forming tangles that are neurotoxic and can jam themselves into the entire intracellular space of a neuron.

From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2022

The one of Rizzo, which was taken down on June 2, makes him look like a misshapen clod in an awkwardly buttoned jacket.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2020

If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were. as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were.

From New York Times ● Jan. 4, 2018

“Here chick,” she called, “here chick, chick, chick, chick, chick, chick—” Ellen slowly reached out with her hoe and broke a clod of dirt into crumbling fragments.

From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt

As Teichman looked on, a few farmhands gingerly coaxed the cuttings out of the plastic sleeves, exposing young roots tangled in clods of soil.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2023

Digging in soggy conditions can damage a soil’s structure, creating impenetrable clods that hinder roots.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2023

It might form big clods that damage the crop or cut it into pieces.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2022

But in eight weeks, I fear Boorish clods will appear Dressed as pathogens for Halloween.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 3, 2020

I eased the spade under the firm leaves of a potato plant, watching the earth come away in thick clods.

From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff