grapefruit
Americannoun
-
grapefruits
plural
-
a large, roundish, yellow-skinned, edible citrus fruit having a juicy, acid pulp.
-
the tropical or semitropical tree, Citrus paradisi, yielding this fruit.
noun
-
a tropical or subtropical cultivated evergreen rutaceous tree, Citrus paradisi
-
the large round edible fruit of this tree, which has yellow rind and juicy slightly bitter pulp
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of grapefruit
1805–15; grape + fruit, apparently from the resemblance of its clusters to those of grapes
Explanation
A grapefruit is a large citrus fruit that grows on a tree. Ripe grapefruits are very slightly sour, juicy, and delicious. The first grapefruits were an accident — they came from an inadvertent cross between an orange and a pomelo. Both of those species are native to Asia, but the grapefruit's accidental invention happened in Barbados some time in the 18th century. The name comes from the way the fruit clusters on the tree, close together like grapes, rather than its taste, which is a mixture of sweetness and acidity.
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:
Kylie Minogue popped into the interview, posing as a barmaid and serving Madonna a grapefruit cocktail.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
We had a grapefruit tree and a plum tree, and a dirt yard.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Lemon is classic; lime sharpens; grapefruit feels slightly adult; orange reads Sunday morning.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2026
Dan from Edinburgh says that his baby, due in early January, was at one point the size of a grapefruit.
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2025
My mother, who makes jam with dried grapefruit peel and then puts in cinnamon bark that I always think is cockroaches in the jam.
From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat
Ayelet Kohn and Shachar Shnurman harvested the grapefruits this month - a defiant act of normality amid the burnt-out remains of their neighbours' homes.
From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2024
The park includes a museum on the citrus business, and you can take a self-guided tour through groves of navel and Valencia oranges, grapefruits and lemons.
From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2023
And because he couldn’t afford a soccer ball, he learned to play on the streets using grapefruits or cloth stuffed with newspapers and bound with string.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2022
Of course, other citrus is just as dreamy: Limes, grapefruits, and tangerines are a few of my faves.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2021
Then someone walked up and asked how many grapefruits we had.
From "Ugly" by Robert Hoge
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.
