lima bean
Americannoun
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a bean, Phaseolus limensis, having a broad, flat, edible seed.
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the seed, used for food.
noun
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any of several varieties of the bean plant, Phaseolus lunatus (or P. limensis ), native to tropical America but cultivated in the US for its flat pods containing pale green edible seeds
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the seed of such a plant
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of lima bean
1810–20; named after Lima, Peru
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.
When presented with the problem in the past, builders and developers were able to turn lima bean fields and orange groves into row after row of homes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2025
In the wild, Venus fly traps are the size of a lima bean and mean no harm to anything other than spiders and flies.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 21, 2023
Jackie Freeman's cauliflower and lima bean gratin is a similar recipe — use either as a jumping-off point based on what you have in your own fridge and pantry.
From Salon ● Jan. 17, 2022
And the CT scan revealed a growth about the size of a lima bean on his pituitary.
From New York Times ● Dec. 29, 2021
My father pressed his fork onto his plate and crushed a lima bean.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
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.
