cereal

[ seer-ee-uhl ]
See synonyms for cereal on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. any plant of the grass family yielding an edible grain, as wheat, rye, oats, rice, or corn.

  2. the grain itself.

  1. some edible preparation of it, especially a breakfast food.

adjective
  1. of or relating to grain or the plants producing it.

Origin of cereal

1
1590–1600; <Latin Cereālis of, pertaining to Ceres; see -al1

Other words from cereal

  • non·ce·re·al, adjective, noun

Words that may be confused with cereal

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cereal in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for cereal

cereal

/ (ˈsɪərɪəl) /


noun
  1. any grass that produces an edible grain, such as oat, rye, wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, and millet

  2. the grain produced by such a plant

  1. any food made from this grain, esp breakfast food

  2. (modifier) of or relating to any of these plants or their products: cereal farming

Origin of cereal

1
C19: from Latin cereālis concerning agriculture, of Ceres 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for cereal

cereal

[ sîrē-əl ]


  1. A grass, such as corn, rice, sorghum, or wheat, whose starchy grains are used as food. Cereals are annual plants, and cereal crops must be reseeded for each growing season. Cereal grasses were domesticated during the Neolithic Period and formed the basis of early agriculture.

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