ingredient

American  

[in-gree-dee-uhnt] / ɪnˈgri di ənt /

noun

• ingredients
  plural

1. something that enters as an element into a mixture.

   Flour, eggs, and sugar are the main ingredients in the cake.

2. a constituent element of anything; component.

   the ingredients of political success.

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ingredient British  

/ ɪnˈɡriːdɪənt /

noun

1. a component of a mixture, compound, etc, esp in cooking

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Synonym Usage

See element.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ingredients
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ingredient

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English from Latin ingredient- (stem of ingrediēns ), present participle of ingredī “to go or step into, commence,” equivalent to in- in- ² + -gredient- “going”; see gradient

Explanation

An ingredient is one part of a mixture. For example, if you're making chocolate chip cookies, flour is just one ingredient you'll need. Ingredient comes from the Latin word ingredientem, meaning "that which enters into." It's not just for cookies. If you're in the lab mixing a chemical compound, you carefully add one ingredient after the next and record the results (and hope nothing blows up). It's also an element or factor of something, such as how that song you wrote has all the ingredients to be a sure-fire hit! Remember that it ends in -ent, since often what you Eat has ingrediEnts.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ingredient ingredients

It was an unusually intense mobilization around an ingredient whose primary job is ordinarily to provide a little cold crunch between seasoned beef and sour cream.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

People with sensitivities to the seed have long been vulnerable to reactions from accidental exposure because regulators have not required labeling of the ingredient.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

Joe Brady's promotion to head coach might prove to be the missing ingredient.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

Another standout ingredient in the batter is rice flour, which has a high starch content and creates a very light texture.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

It had taken fifty-three years, but finally Mason Darlington Burgess, the good-for-nothing heir to the Darlington fortune, had discovered the secret ingredient to his own mother’s peanut butter recipe.

From "A Tangle of Knots" by Lisa Graff

When investigators inspected Enbody in 2025, they found ingredients imported from Chinese suppliers that weren’t registered with the FDA, including a box labeled retatrutide, public records show.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

By engineering yeast, scientists have developed a system that can transform compounds from plastic and agricultural waste into edible proteins, vitamins, flavorings, and other food ingredients.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026

In-N-Out Burger this week announced several menu changes in line with a recent push to reduce use of artificial dyes and processed ingredients.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

But like many in the catering industry, he would like to source ingredients locally.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

In any case, she still had to obtain the final two ingredients, which were, of course, the paprika and the cannibal book itself.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

Related Words

• additive
• element
• factor
• piece