cranberry
Americannoun
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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.
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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
Alongside the usual essentials, it will be asking for items such as custard, cranberry sauce and gravy.
From BBC ● Dec. 7, 2025
Observers typically indulge in a hearty meal with staples such as turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.
From Barron's ● Nov. 27, 2025
So are saccharine dishes like the cranberry orange relish that Michael Donnelly-Boylen sweetened with long pours of sugar into a food processor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025
He remembers that freshman year she’d had hair dyed an emphatic shade of cranberry red, cut to her jaw.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Go for dried fruit if you want something chewy and concentrated: cranberries, golden or black raisins, figs, apricots, dates.
From Salon ● Dec. 16, 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
Holiday staples such as turkey, stuffing and cranberries cost less than in 2024, partly because of widespread discounting, but also because overall demand for turkey and wheat—which is used to make stuffing—has been down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 22, 2025
The sugared cranberries on top, of course, stole the show.
From Salon ● Dec. 19, 2024
Turkey, mashed potatoes, greens, stuffing, cranberries, corn, biscuits, pies and cakes, and a special tea she made to go with it all.
From "The Boy in the Black Suit" by Jason Reynolds
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.
