green bean

American  

noun

• green beans
  plural

1. the immature green pod of the kidney bean, eaten as a vegetable.

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green bean British  

noun

1. any bean plant, such as the French bean, having narrow green edible pods when unripe

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• green beans
  plural

Etymology

Origin of green bean

An Americanism dating back to 1940–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

green bean

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

The roughly $40 basket includes a Butterball frozen turkey, a five-pound bag of potatoes, boxed macaroni and cheese and stuffing mixes, fresh cranberries and the ingredients for a green bean casserole and pumpkin pie.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 22, 2025

Beitchman describe their shape as similar to Chinese green bean plants because they both coil at the very tip.

From Salon ● May 14, 2025

It found that 31% of U.S. adults don’t care for cranberry sauce while 29% would skip the sweet potatoes and 28% would forgo the green bean casserole.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 22, 2023

A tiny dot appears inside the letter b of the green bean recipe.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin