berry
1 Americannoun
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berries
plural
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any small, usually stoneless, juicy fruit, irrespective of botanical structure, as the huckleberry, strawberry, or hackberry.
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Botany. a simple fruit having a pulpy pericarp in which the seeds are embedded, as the grape, gooseberry, currant, or tomato.
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a dry seed or kernel, as of wheat.
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the hip of the rose.
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one of the eggs of a lobster, crayfish, etc.
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Older Slang. the berries, someone or something very attractive or unusual.
verb (used without object)
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berries,
present (3rd person singular)
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berried,
past participle, past
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berrying
present participle
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to gather or pick berries.
We went berrying this morning.
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to bear or produce berries.
noun
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Charles Edward Anderson Chuck, 1926–2017, U.S. rock-'n'-roll singer, musician, and composer.
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Also Berri. a former province in central France.
noun
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any of various small edible fruits such as the blackberry and strawberry
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botany an indehiscent fruit with two or more seeds and a fleshy pericarp, such as the grape or gooseberry
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any of various seeds or dried kernels, such as a coffee bean
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the egg of a lobster, crayfish, or similar animal
verb
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to bear or produce berries
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to gather or look for berries
noun
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Chuck , full name Charles Edward Berry . born 1926, US rock-and-roll guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His frequently covered songs include "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), "Memphis, Tennessee" (1959), and "Promised Land" (1964)
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Jean de France (ʒɑ̃ də frɑ̃s), Duc de. 1340–1416, French prince, son of King John II; coregent (1380–88) for Charles VI and a famous patron of the arts
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A simple fruit that has many seeds in a fleshy pulp. Grapes, bananas, tomatoes, and blueberries are berries.
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Compare drupe pome See more at simple fruit
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A seed or dried kernel of certain kinds of grain or other plants such as wheat, barley, or coffee.
Usage
What does berry mean? A berry is a small, stoneless, juicy fruit. Commonly, a berry is any small fruit that has no pit and usually produces juice. Berries range from sweet, such as the blueberry, to sour, such as the raspberry. In botany, a berry is specifically a fruit with a pulpy outer wall and many seeds. Botanically, then, some fruits commonly thought of as berries are not actually berries, including strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Fruits that botanically are berries include blueberries, bananas, grapes, and tomatoes. Less commonly, berry can also refer to a dry seed or kernel. As a verb, to berry means to pick berries or to produce berries. Example: We picked berries today, filling up three whole baskets.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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berrysimple
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berriessimple
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have berriedperfect
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has berriedperfect
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am berryingprogressive
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are berryingprogressive
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is berryingprogressive
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have been berryingperfect progressive
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has been berryingperfect progressive
Past
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berriedsimple
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had berriedperfect
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was berryingprogressive
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were berryingprogressive
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had been berryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of berry
before 1000; Middle English berie, Old English beri ( g ) e; cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German beri ( German Beere ), Old Norse ber < Germanic basjá-; akin to Dutch besie, Gothic -basi < Germanic básja-
Vocabulary lists containing berry
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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:
Dole also closed an Oxnard berry cooling facility and scaled back its operations there.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
Instead of planting berry bushes out in the open, as is often done in the U.S., it decided to grow them in greenhouses using water systems that couldn’t be contaminated by nearby farms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Those include rival Rogue’s mango-flavored pouches and Velo’s wild berry and dragon fruit flavors.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
The standout drink on my visit was the triple berry matcha, made with first-harvest organic matcha, house-made berry syrup and vanilla cream.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
Just the thought of that tart berry taste had made her stomach ache with nausea, but now it didn’t sound so terrible.
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
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“I give myself grace,” says Berry, 63, who works in hotel operations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 15, 2026
Beth Berry made the painful decision to euthanize her 12-year-old goldendoodle, Jesse, last month after the dog’s cancer metastasized.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 15, 2026
California residents who bought a non-season ticket to Knott’s Berry Farm, Knott’s Soak City in Buena Park or California’s Great America in Santa Clara are eligible for a refund.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026
Sargis Isayan sued amusement park operator Cedar Fair — then the operator of Knott’s Berry Farm — in June 2024.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026
Just as Rowdy and I started for Grandpa’s store, Daisy yelled, “Jay Berry, if you’re going to be running, you’d better be careful. You might lose your money.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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The company supplies strawberries for Driscoll’s, which markets berries grown by independent farmers under contract.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
The eating pattern emphasizes green leafy vegetables; other vegetables; berries; nuts; whole grains; fish; beans; olive oil; and poultry, along with moderate wine consumption.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
For other fruit, such as berries, you might only have a few days.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
One of the main varieties is called Eureka Sunrise, a breed with large, sweet berries developed by Australian company Mountain Blue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Maybe because of the way they taste the berries are rarely eaten by game early in the fall when they come ripe.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
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The floral arrangements used “English foliage — holly, berried ivy and red skimmia,” and the tree was to be recycled to be viewed by holiday visitors to Windsor.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 25, 2022
In fall, masses of winter pansies, ornamental kale and berried shrubs replace tender plantings in the massive window box and containers, while the trim boxwood hedges and clipped hollies carry the show throughout winter.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 27, 2021
In her arms she carried a cluster—a bundle almost—of ferns and autumnal branches—cedar and black-alder, the one berried with blue the other with coral, maple and aromatic spruce, with trails of the grape vine.
From Lady Good-for-Nothing by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
The berried briony garlands clung to the bared hedges, and here and there flared scarlet, still holding their red defiantly until hard frosts should come to shrivel and blacken them.
From The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett
I wur nearly mad wi' grief and shame, and the day after my owld man wur berried I wur sittin' in the doorway theer, when Betsey Tressider comed 'long.
From Roger Trewinion by Gunning King
They spoke most of the weather, and mentioned fishing, berrying and hunting as often as art.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Joe and Marly did so much berrying, what with strawberries and then red raspberries and then blackberries, that Joe said he was absolutely berried-out.
From "Miracles on Maple Hill" by Virginia Sorensen
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I’m beginning to think she’s gone fishing or berrying and will not return until dusk.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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Of course, I’m not going to follow her, although it would be easier than playing On the Track, the game we made up when went berrying or food gathering.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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But there is one—sport, shall I call it?—which no one seems to have thought worth mentioning: the gentle sport of berrying.
From The Jonathan Papers by Elisabeth Woodbridge Morris
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