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• olive
  olive

  noun

  an evergreen tree, Olea europaea, of Mediterranean and other warm regions, cultivated chiefly for its fruit.
• Olive
  Olive

  noun

  a female given name.

olive

¹ American  

[ol-iv] / ˈɒl ɪv /

noun

• olives
  plural

1. an evergreen tree, Olea europaea, of Mediterranean and other warm regions, cultivated chiefly for its fruit.

2. the fruit of this tree, a small oval drupe, eaten as a relish and used as a source of oil.

3. Also called olive wood.  the wood of this tree, valued for ornamental work.

4. the foliage of this tree.

5. a wreath of it.

6. any of various related or similar trees.

7. olive branch.

8. the ocher green or dull yellow green of the unripe olive fruit.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or made of olives, their foliage, or their fruit.

2. of the color olive.

3. tinged with this color.

   an olive complexion.

Olive ² American  

[ol-iv] / ˈɒl ɪv /

noun

1. a female given name.

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olive British  

/ ˈɒlɪv /

noun

1. an evergreen oleaceous tree, Olea europaea, of the Mediterranean region but cultivated elsewhere, having white fragrant flowers, and edible shiny black fruits

2. the fruit of this plant, eaten as a relish and used as a source of olive oil

3. the wood of the olive tree, used for ornamental work

4. any of various trees or shrubs resembling the olive

5. 1. a yellow-green colour

   2. ( as adjective )

      an olive coat

6. an angler's name for the dun of various mayflies or an artificial fly in imitation of this

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or made of the olive tree, its wood, or its fruit

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subolive
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• olives
  plural

Etymology

Origin of olive

1150–1200; Middle English < Old French < Latin olīva, by-form of olea < dialectal Greek *elaíwa olive, olive tree; cf. oil, oleaceous

Explanation

An olive is a very small fruit, although you probably think of it as a savory snack. You might find an olive on a salad, on a pizza, or even on a toothpick in your martini. Olives are so naturally bitter that they're basically inedible unless they've been treated — cured with lye or salt, and then fermented. In addition to the olives you see in jars on grocery store shelves, olive trees yield an expensive, durable wood; and of course, olive oil. You can also describe the yellowish-green color of an unripe olive as olive. And when someone offers "an olive branch," they are trying to make peace or come to an understanding.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

olive Olive olives

Savory cocktails have become de rigueur in recent years, and if we’re willing to sip olive or oyster brine, why not try some broth in your drink?

From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026

Devlet Bahceli, a close Erdogan ally and head of the hardline nationalist MHP whose unexpected olive branch to Ocalan kickstarted the process in October 2024, also hailed the vote.

From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026

Kreinbrink turned her experience into a wellness retreat business where people travel to Tuscany with her to harvest olives for olive oil, make wine and craft cheese on the farm, alongside local farmers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

I crumbled some of the cornbread into olive oil and toasted it in a skillet.

From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026

Our potato tikkis have browned beautifully on both sides, sizzling with the aroma of cilantro and olive oil.

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

Taking their dogs Olive and Teddy to a dog show is one of many new things Josh and Kelly have been doing to "make memories"

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Olive oil and a lower intake of refined carbohydrates were linked to higher levels of SHMOOSE.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026

Bill Nguyen, a Silicon Valley veteran who recently founded an AI voice startup called Olive, used a startling 774 billion tokens in the last month and a half, mostly for his personal use, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

A pasta PSA: After a yearslong hiatus, Olive Garden is selling 10,000 Never-Ending Pasta Passes on Thursday, entitling buyers to 13 weeks of unlimited pasta, soup, salad, and breadsticks.

From Slate ● Jul. 14, 2026

As I watched, Olive detached herself from the family and staggered on the slanting deck to the railing.

From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck

Kreinbrink turned her experience into a wellness retreat business where people travel to Tuscany with her to harvest olives for olive oil, make wine and craft cheese on the farm, alongside local farmers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

Serve either spritz—or both, each takes five minutes to make—with olives, an antipasti plate or, if you’d rather order in, a couple of pizzas.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

Top it with sliced olives, flaky salt, and crumbles of blue cheese if you’re feeling ambitious.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026

Seeing who could get the most olives to her became a sort of competition for our competitive family, but there were no stakes in this game except feeding someone we loved so dearly.

From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2026

They ate pepperoni sausages and cheese, bottled olives, and cream crackers.

From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer

Related Words

• beige
• brownish
• drab
• khaki