grape

American  

[grayp] / greɪp /

noun

• grapes
  plural

1. the edible, pulpy, smooth-skinned berry or fruit that grows in clusters on vines of the genus Vitis, and from which wine is made.

2. any vine bearing this fruit.

3. a dull, dark, purplish-red color.

4. (used with a singular verb) grapes,

   1. tuberculosis occurring in cattle, characterized by the internal formation of grapelike clusters, especially in the lungs.

   2. tuberculosis occurring in horses, characterized by grapelike clusters on the fetlocks.

5. grapeshot.

6. the grape, wine.

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grape British  

/ ɡreɪp /

noun

1. the fruit of the grapevine, which has a purple or green skin and sweet flesh: eaten raw, dried to make raisins, currants, or sultanas, or used for making wine

2. any of various plants that bear grapelike fruit, such as the Oregon grape

3. See grapevine

4. an informal term for wine

5. See grapeshot

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grape Idioms  

1. see sour grapes.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• grapeless
  adjective
• grapelike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• grapes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of grape

1200–50; Middle English < Old French, variant of crape cluster of fruit or flowers, originally hook (for pruning vines) < Germanic; compare German Krapf hook and grapple ( def. ), grapnel

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Explanation

A grape is a small, sweet fruit that grows in clusters on a vine. Most grapes are either purple or green, and they make a delicious addition to a fruit salad. Though grapes naturally contain tiny seeds, many varieties of so-called "table grapes" are bred to be seedless, so you can pop one grape after another in your mouth. Dried grapes are known as raisins, and this versatile berry is used to make many other products, including jelly, juice, and wine. Experts believe the word grape comes from an Old French verb, graper, "catch with a hook" or "pick grapes off the vine."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

grape grapes

Now CEO of Elanco Animal Health, Simmons said his family’s upstate New York grape farm had been devastated by a hailstorm.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

Fink was in California recently amid the grape harvest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

“Yes, there are laws,” said Jesus, his face wrinkled from years of harvesting garlic, pruning grape vines and picking blackberries in the sun-baked San Joaquin Valley.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

"To see nanoscale structures with standard electron microscopy, we fix and dehydrate the tissues, but freezing them retains their shape -- similar to freezing a grape rather than dehydrating it into a raisin," Watanabe said.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026

That Monday morning in the cafeteria, he paid for my Pop Tarts and grape juice and said, “The first Aunt Viv was the best Aunt Viv.”

From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas

The number of grapes ready to pick or already harvested off the vine will be 35% to 40% lighter than average, the Sonoma County Winegrowers estimate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

The defect is undetectable to humans until after the grapes are fermented into wine, when it then spoils the yield.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

On a Saturday in late September 2025, the 40-year-old mother of four was loading crates of grapes onto a forklift in a Fresno County field.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

The first grapes were cut in early August and the harvest expanded by the middle of the month, "the earliest ever recorded in Champagne", the association said.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

Mom says she has no intention of ever being a farmer, even though she knows how to drive a tractor and prune grapes and everything.

From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones

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