Salt is a strong-tasting substance, in the form of white powder or crystals, which is used to improve the flavour of food or to preserve it. Salt occurs naturally in sea water.

When you salt food, you add salt to it.

Salts are substances that are formed when an acid reacts with an alkali.

If you describe someone as the salt of the earth, you have a lot of respect for them as the type of person who deals with difficult or demanding situations without making any unnecessary fuss.

If you take something with a pinch of salt, you do not believe that it is completely accurate or true.

If you say, for example, that any doctor worth his or her salt would do something, you mean that any doctor who was good at his or her job or who deserved respect would do it.

If someone or something rubs salt into the wound, they make the unpleasant situation that you are in even worse, often by reminding you of your failures or faults.