grain

[ greyn ]

/ greɪn /

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See synonyms for: grain / grains on Thesaurus.com

noun

a small, hard seed, especially the seed of a food plant such as wheat, corn, rye, oats, rice, or millet.

the gathered seed of food plants, especially of cereal plants.

such plants collectively.

any small, hard particle, as of sand, gold, pepper, or gunpowder.

the smallest unit of weight in most systems, originally determined by the weight of a plump grain of wheat. In the U.S. and British systems, as in avoirdupois, troy, and apothecaries' weights, the grain is identical. In an avoirdupois ounce there are 437.5 grains; in the troy and apothecaries' ounces there are 480 grains (one grain equals 0.0648 gram).

the smallest possible amount of anything: a grain of truth.

the arrangement or direction of fibers in wood, or the pattern resulting from this.

the direction in which the fibers of a piece of dressed wood, as a board, rise to the surface: You should work with or across the grain, but never against.

the side of leather from which the hair has been removed.

a stamped pattern that imitates the natural grain of leather: used either on leather to simulate a different type of natural leather, or on coated cloth.

Textiles.

the fibers or yarn in a piece of fabric as differentiated from the fabric itself.
the direction of threads in a woven fabric in relation to the selvage.

the lamination or cleavage of stone, coal, etc.

Metallurgy. any of the individual crystalline particles forming a metal.

Jewelry. a unit of weight equal to 50 milligrams or ¼ carat, used for pearls and sometimes for diamonds.

the size of constituent particles of any substance; texture: sugar of fine grain.

a granular texture or appearance: a stone of coarse grain.

a state of crystallization: boiled to the grain.

temper or natural character: two brothers of similar grain.

Rocketry. a unit of solid propellant.

Obsolete. color or hue.

verb (used with object)

to form into grains; granulate.

to give a granular appearance to.

to paint in imitation of the grain of wood, stone, etc.: metal doors grained to resemble oak.

to feed grain to (an animal).

Tanning.

to remove the hair from (skins).
to soften and raise the grain of (leather).

OTHER WORDS FOR grain

6 bit, speck, trace, jot, iota, whit, tittle.

See synonyms for grain on Thesaurus.com

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Idioms about grain

against the / one's grain, in opposition to one's temper, inclination, or character: Haggling always went against her grain.

with a grain of salt. salt¹ (def. 24).

Origin of grain

1250–1300; Middle English grain, grein<Old French grain<Latin grānum seed, grain; see corn¹

OTHER WORDS FROM grain

grainer, noungrainless, adjectivemul·ti·grain, noun, adjectivenon·grain, noun

su·per·grain, nounun·der·grain·ing, noun

Words nearby grain

graham wafer, Graiae, Graian Alps, grail, Grail, Holy, grain, grain alcohol, Grain Coast, grained, grain elevator, grainfield

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use grain in a sentence

This vast country with enormous agricultural resources having to turn to its archenemy for grain.
How the Supermarket Helped America Win the Cold War (Ep. 386 Rebroadcast)|Stephen J. Dubner|August 6, 2020|Freakonomics
A mid-June survey from Meijer’s campaign found him ahead of Afendoulis by 24 points, 41 percent to 17 percent, although we should take internal polls with a grain of salt.
What You Need To Know About Today’s Elections In Kansas, Michigan And Missouri|Nathaniel Rakich (nathaniel.rakich@fivethirtyeight.com)|August 4, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
Scary radiation effects seen in lab animals or cell cultures should be taken with a grain of salt.
What will astronauts need to survive the dangerous journey to Mars?|Maria Temming|July 15, 2020|Science News
County officials told NBC 7 San Diego to take the increases with a grain of salt.
Morning Report: MTS Says Its Officers Are Exempt from State Law|Voice of San Diego|June 26, 2020|Voice of San Diego

This allowed the vehicle to trundle up hills of loose grains.
Wiggly wheels might help rovers plow through loose lunar soils|Maria Temming|June 26, 2020|Science News For Students
Spanish oak, which has an open grain and high levels of tannin, gives you dried fruit, spice, and even chocolate flavors.
How Much Do Whisky Casks Really Affect Taste?||December 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Stalin, now one of the top men in the party, was sent there by Lenin to ensure that grain was getting shipped to Moscow.
Kotkin Biography Reveals Stalin's Evil Pragmatism|William O’Connor|November 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Feast your eyes on the ‘top-grain leather,’ ‘original’ design, gilded pages.
Rand Paul’s Many Leather-Bound Books|Olivia Nuzzi|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I am holding in my hand a book, bound in black “genuine top-grain” leather.
Rand Paul’s Many Leather-Bound Books|Olivia Nuzzi|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Against the Grain By Michael Specter, The New Yorker Should you go gluten-free?
The Daily Beast’s Best Longreads, Oct 27-Nov 2, 2014|William Boot|November 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And I have not had the first morsel of food prepared from this grain offered me since I reached the shores of Europe.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
Even if poverty were gone, the flail could still beat hard enough upon the grain and chaff of humanity.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
The small grain crops had been burned to a crisp, and disaster hung over the land.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
The delicious soft rains set in early, promising a good grain year.
Ramona|Helen Hunt Jackson
It laid its hold upon agriculture, sowing and reaping the grain and transporting it to the ends of the earth.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock

British Dictionary definitions for grain

grain

/ (ɡreɪn) /

noun

the small hard seedlike fruit of a grass, esp a cereal plant

a mass of such fruits, esp when gathered for food

the plants, collectively, from which such fruits are harvested

a small hard particlea grain of sand

the general direction or arrangement of the fibrous elements in paper or woodto saw across the grain
the pattern or texture of wood resulting from such an arrangementthe attractive grain of the table

the relative size of the particles of a substancesugar of fine grain

the granular texture of a rock, mineral, etc
the appearance of a rock, mineral, etc, determined by the size and arrangement of its constituents

the outer (hair-side) layer of a hide or skin from which the hair or wool has been removed
the pattern on the outer surface of such a hide or skin

a surface artificially imitating the grain of wood, leather, stone, etc; graining

the smallest unit of weight in the avoirdupois, Troy, and apothecaries' systems, based on the average weight of a grain of wheat: in the avoirdupois system it equals 1/7000 of a pound, and in the Troy and apothecaries' systems it equals 1/5760 of a pound. 1 grain is equal to 0.0648 gramAbbreviation: gr

Also called: metric grain a metric unit of weight used for pearls or diamonds, equal to 50 milligrams or one quarter of a carat

the threads or direction of threads in a woven fabric

photog any of a large number of particles in a photographic emulsion, the size of which limit the extent to which an image can be enlarged without serious loss of definition

television a granular effect in a television picture caused by electrical noise

cleavage lines in crystalline material, parallel to growth planes

chem any of a large number of small crystals forming a polycrystalline solid, each having a regular array of atoms that differs in orientation from that of the surrounding crystallites

a state of crystallizationto boil syrup to the grain

a very small amounta grain of truth

natural disposition, inclination, or character (esp in the phrase go against the grain)

astronautics a homogenous mass of solid propellant in a form designed to give the required combustion characteristics for a particular rocket

(not in technical usage) kermes or a red dye made from this insect

dyeing an obsolete word for colour

with a grain of salt or with a pinch of salt without wholly believing: sceptically

verb (mainly tr)

(also intr) to form grains or cause to form into grains; granulate; crystallize

to give a granular or roughened appearance or texture to

to paint, stain, etc, in imitation of the grain of wood or leather

to remove the hair or wool from (a hide or skin) before tanning
to raise the grain pattern on (leather)

Derived forms of grain

grainer, noungrainless, adjective

Word Origin for grain

C13: from Old French, from Latin grānum

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for grain

grain

[ grān ]

See caryopsis.

A small particle of something, such as salt, pollen, or sand.

A unit of weight in the US Customary System, equal to 21000 of an ounce (0.07 gram). See Table at measurement.

Other Idioms and Phrases with grain

grain

see against the grain; with a grain of salt.

grain

OTHER WORDS FOR grain

Idioms about grain

Origin of grain

OTHER WORDS FROM grain

Words nearby grain

Words related to grain

How to use grain in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for grain

Derived forms of grain

Word Origin for grain

Scientific definitions for grain

Other Idioms and Phrases with grain