cranberry
Americannoun
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cranberries
plural
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the red, acid fruit or berry of certain plants of the genus Vaccinium, of the heath family, as V. macrocarpon large cranberry, or American cranberry or V. oxycoccus small cranberry, or European cranberry, used in making sauce, relish, jelly, or juice.
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the plant itself, growing wild in bogs or cultivated in acid soils, especially in the northeastern U.S.
noun
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any of several trailing ericaceous shrubs of the genus Vaccinium, such as the European V. oxycoccus, that bear sour edible red berries
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the berry of this plant, used to make sauce or jelly
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cranberry
An Americanism dating back to 1640–50; from Low German kraanbere; see crane, berry
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Vocabulary lists containing cranberry
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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:
We listened to Christmas music while making gingerbread and sipping cranberry apple cider.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
To attract increasingly discerning consumers, Kroger has offered a precooked holiday meal for eight of turkey or ham, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry and gravy for about $11 a person.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025
She said festive items were required this year, such as Christmas cake, cranberry sauce, gravy, and chocolate coins for stockings, as well as essentials such as toilet roll, toothbrushes and deodorant.
From BBC ● Dec. 1, 2025
Stack ladyfingers with whole-berry cranberry sauce, vanilla pudding, and whipped cream flecked with a decidedly ungodly amount of orange zest.
From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2025
Heylmun settled on pasta preceded by roasted-pumpkin chowder with a sprinkling of celery and onion, finished with crème fraîche and bacon-braised cranberry beans garnished with diced pumpkin, fried sage, and toasted pumpkin seeds.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
Roasting fruit — berries, peaches, even cranberries tossed with a little honey and citrus zest until jammy — turns smoothies, oatmeal and salads into something celebratory.
From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2025
This Washington cider modeled on the Negroni combines Pacific Northwest apples with cherries, cranberries and bitter orange peel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 25, 2025
The roughly $40 basket includes a Butterball frozen turkey, a five-pound bag of potatoes, boxed macaroni and cheese and stuffing mixes, fresh cranberries and the ingredients for a green bean casserole and pumpkin pie.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 22, 2025
You can whip a bit more cream and make a few more sugared cranberries to top each one.
From Salon ● Dec. 19, 2024
Molly puts the kettle on for tea and rummages through the cupboards, finding steel-cut oats and dried cranberries, walnuts, and honey.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
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.
