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carbohydrates

Cultural

Substances composed of long chains of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon molecules. Sugar, starch, and cellulose are all carbohydrates. In the human body, carbohydrates play a major role in respiration; in plants, they are important in photosynthesis.

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Carbohydrates in food provide energy for the body and, if present in excess, are stored as fat.

Example Sentences

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Many all-you-can-eat menus lead with heavy, low-cost carbohydrates like pasta or thick breading to trigger fullness before you’ve reached the break-even point on higher-cost proteins.

From MarketWatch • May 14, 2026

Carb-maxxing to compensate for the lack of carbohydrates in our diets?

From Salon • May 7, 2026

“Athletes knew they needed to have carbohydrates, but there was also that risk of getting GI issues.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

Sawe reportedly took on 115g of carbohydrates per hour during the race, following a breakfast consisting of two slices of bread with honey and tea.

From BBC • Apr. 27, 2026

There are small traces of nitrogen, water vapor, argon, carbon monoxide and other gases, but the only hydrocarbons or carbohydrates present are there in less than 0.1 parts per million.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023