cereal

American  

[seer-ee-uhl] / ˈsɪər i əl /

noun

1. any plant of the grass family yielding an edible grain, as wheat, rye, oats, rice, or corn.

2. the grain itself.

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

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adjective

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

cereal British  

/ 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

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

4. (modifier) of or relating to any of these plants or their products

   cereal farming

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cereal Scientific  

/ sîr′ē-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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Other Word Forms

• noncereal adjective

Etymology

Origin of cereal

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

Example Sentences

The company recruited Cahillane, who had previously led Kellogg and oversaw the company’s 2023 split that created a breakfast cereal supplier and a snack company.

From The Wall Street Journal

And while it's unlikely cyclists are munching the cereal bars and sweets favoured by the curlers when on the ice, many of the same principles are the same.

From BBC

Some of them had little bits of brown stuff like cereal in them.

From Literature

Global food prices fell for a fifth consecutive month as declines in dairy, meat and sugar outweighed gains in cereals and vegetable oils, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said.

From The Wall Street Journal

Teachers and volunteers sort donations by category, including hygiene goods, breakfast cereals, bread and tortillas, fruit and vegetables, diapers and other baby items.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bran
• corn
• grain
• rice
• wheat