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jellybean

American  
[jel-ee-been] / ˈdʒɛl iˌbin /

noun

  • jellybeans
    plural
  1. a small, bean-shaped, usually brightly colored candy with a hard sugar coating and a firm gelatinous filling.


jellybean British  
/ ˈdʒɛlɪˌbiːn /

noun

  1. a bean-shaped sweet with a brightly coloured coating around a gelatinous filling

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of jellybean

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05; jelly + bean

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:

Marsupials give birth to embryonic or premature babies — called joeys — that are roughly the size of a jellybean, according to the zoo.

From Los Angeles Times May 4, 2023

"When a joey is first born it's only the size of a jellybean and is incredibly underdeveloped," he said.

From BBC Jan. 26, 2023

Among other things, he takes $10 donations to play Bean Boozled, a favorite of his younger viewers, in which he eats a mystery jellybean that could taste like either chocolate or dog food.

From Seattle Times Jul. 22, 2021

A creature the size of a jellybean spun through the air, delicate legs wiggling, reddish-brown body catching the light.

From Nature Oct. 17, 2017

It’s painted in a prep-school plaid pattern with a jellybean color scheme.

From Slate Apr. 19, 2015

Someone filled Conor Daly’s portable hot tub with Orbeez, superabsorbent polymers that resemble jellybeans and grow to 100 times their original size when submerged in water.

From Seattle Times May 26, 2022

For years, it was permanently stocked with jellybeans and Mountain Dew and smelled of too many people working too hard for too long.

From Los Angeles Times May 9, 2022

The confounding process of determining an LFO amount “has all the certainty of counting jellybeans in a jar,” dissenting judges blistered in response to the Eleventh Circuit Court’s opinion.

From Slate Oct. 6, 2020

We may no longer have to guess the number of jellybeans in a jar in order to cast a ballot.

From Washington Times Jul. 30, 2020

“You keep off the streets, or I’d see you. Who do you play out with? Are you hiding out in the woods with one of those dam slick-headed jellybeans? Is that where you go?”

From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

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