lemon
Americannoun
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lemons
plural
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the yellowish, acid fruit of a subtropical citrus tree, Citrus limon.
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the tree itself.
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Informal. a person or thing that proves to be defective, imperfect, or unsatisfactory; dud.
His car turned out to be a lemon.
adjective
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made of or with lemon.
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having the color, taste, or odor of lemon.
noun
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a small Asian evergreen tree, Citrus limon, widely cultivated in warm and tropical regions, having pale green glossy leaves and edible fruits
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the yellow oval fruit of this tree, having juicy acidic flesh rich in vitamin C
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( as modifier )
a lemon jelly
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Also called: lemon yellow.
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a greenish-yellow or strong yellow colour
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( as adjective )
lemon wallpaper
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a distinctive tart flavour made from or in imitation of the lemon
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slang a person or thing considered to be useless or defective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of lemon
1350–1400; 1905–10 lemon for def. 4; < Medieval Latin lemōnium; replacing Middle English lymon < Medieval Latin līmō, (stem līmōn- ) < Persian līmū, līmun
Explanation
A lemon is a sour yellow fruit. Squeeze one to make lemonade or add flavor to hot tea. Lemon is also what people call something that doesn’t work well, like a bum car. You can use the word lemon for the evergreen tree whose blossoms become bright yellow fruit, or for the fruit itself — or even the color of the fruit. Lemons are originally from Asia, but they also grow well in the Mediterranean, Florida, and California. They like sunny places. Informally, you can also use lemon to mean "an unsatisfactory or poorly made example of something," so you could say, "Most Volvos are great, but this car is a lemon."
Vocabulary lists containing lemon
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The first thing I do when I wake up is go get a lemon from the little lemon tree we have and squeeze it into some room-temperature water and drink it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
My stomach was in knots as I pictured myself clad in a lemon chiffon dress looking like a dollop of meringue, doing the Viennese waltz — something resembling a Centrum Silver commercial.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
She got something personal to her but declined to say what it was—except that it was neither a lemon nor a lime.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Their crunch interrupts the softness of the turkey, cheese and sauces; their salt seasons the sandwich; and their pucker sharpens the lemon mayo and smoky-sweet romesco.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
The citrus lemon chicken explodes in my mouth, better than anything I’ve ever eaten.
From "Free Lunch" by Rex Ogle
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And if management is able to make lemonade out of lemons then they can even be a great one.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
He has one customer who picks lemons from his family’s tree to trade for other produce.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Farmers arrived at dawn with tomatoes, gourds, chillies, lemons and melons.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
For example, Customer A is shopping online for grocery pick-up and sees $3.99 for a bag of lemons, whereas Customer B sees $2.99 for the same bag.
From Salon ● May 18, 2026
A man was pushing a load of tarts by on a two-wheeled cart; the smells sang of blueberries and lemons and apricots.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.