gruel

American  

[groo-uhl] / ˈgru əl /

noun

gruels plural

1. a light, usually thin, cooked cereal made by boiling meal, especially oatmeal, in water or milk.

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gruel British  

/ ˈɡruːəl /

noun

1. a drink or thin porridge, made by boiling meal, esp oatmeal, in water or milk

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• gruels
  plural

Etymology

Origin of gruel

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Middle French, Old French, perhaps via an intermediary such as Medieval Latin grūtellum (unrecorded), from grūtum “flour, meal” (from a Germanic source akin to German Grütze “ground cereal grains”; see grits, grout) + -ellum, diminutive suffix

Compare meaning

How does gruel compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• gruel vs. porridge

Explanation

Gruel is a truly unpleasant food — weak and runny, consisting of oatmeal or cornmeal boiled in milk or water. It's the kind of "slop" prisoners and other inmates of institutions were historically forced to eat. Gruel was made most famous by Dickens's Oliver Twist, the little orphan boy in the workhouse, who was so hungry he even asked for seconds of it: "Please sir, I want some more." Gruel's reputation, not great to begin with, never recovered. From this delightful substance comes the adjective grueling, describing an experience that's exhausting and punishing. "To get one's gruel" was 1700s slang meaning "to receive one's punishment." Even back then gruel had a bad rap.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gruel gruels

It became something closer to porridge, or gruel, which delighted me.

From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026

By historical standards that’s pretty thin gruel, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says it even might overstate job creation.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 15, 2025

“The market had expected a confident story of further margin development and was instead served a thin gruel as far as 2030 guidance was concerned.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025

But this may be thin gruel for someone with Boris Johnson's outsize personality.

From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2023

In our bellies there is gruel, mean hospital stuff, and in our bags roast pork.

From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque

Agriculture softened our ancestors’ diets with processed gruels, stews and yogurts, and this fare led to gradually shrinking lower jaws to produce today’s overcrowded mouths.”

From Fox News ● Mar. 18, 2019

Few had ever received Red Cross packages; their guards, almost to a man, had engaged in graft which cut prison fare to watery soups, half-spoiled vegetables, and chalky gruels.

From Time Magazine Archive

After this, the patient may have well-cooked cereal gruels.

From Dietetics for Nurses by Proudfit, Fairfax T.

If the gruels are made with milk instead of with all water they become more evenly balanced.

From Dietetics for Nurses by Proudfit, Fairfax T.

A return to normal diet must be made gradually, giving cereal gruels, milk toast, and broth before the more solid articles of diet suitable to the age of the child.

From Dietetics for Nurses by Proudfit, Fairfax T.