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.
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
This Thanksgiving, you deserve better than gelatinous, canned cranberry sauce slop.
From Salon • Nov. 26, 2025
Fried potatoes reheat better than mashed, and latkes are an ideal vehicle to pile turkey, gravy and cranberry sauce on.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 15, 2025
Some of it I don’t recognize, but there’s a list on the refrigerator door: stuffing, cranberry sauce, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, black-eyed peas, sweet potato pie, Haitian rice and beans.
From "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi
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.
