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• meal
  meal

  noun

  the food served and eaten especially at one of the customary, regular occasions for taking food during the day, as breakfast, lunch, or supper.
• -meal
  -meal

  a native English combining form, now unproductive, denoting a fixed measure at a time.

meal

¹ American  

[meel] / mil /

noun

1. 

   the food served and eaten especially at one of the customary, regular occasions for taking food during the day, as breakfast, lunch, or supper.

2. one of these regular occasions or times for eating food.

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meal ² American  

[meel] / mil /

noun

1. a coarse, unsifted powder ground from the edible seeds of any grain.

   wheat meal;

   cornmeal.

2. any ground or powdery substance, as of nuts or seeds, resembling this.

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-meal ³ American  

1. a native English combining form, now unproductive, denoting a fixed measure at a time.

   piecemeal.

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meal ¹ British  

/ miːl /

noun

1. 1. any of the regular occasions, such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc, when food is served and eaten

   2. ( in combination )

      mealtime

2. the food served and eaten

3. informal to perform (a task) with unnecessarily great effort

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meal ² British  

/ miːl /

noun

1. the edible part of a grain or pulse (excluding wheat) ground to a coarse powder, used chiefly as animal food

2. oatmeal

3. maize flour

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meal Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing meal

• square meal

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Other Word Forms

• meal-less
  adjective
• mealless
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of meal¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English mǣl “measure, fixed time, occasion”; cognate with German Mal “time,” Mahl “meal,” Old Norse māl, Gothic mēl “time, hour”

Origin of meal²

First recorded before 900; Middle English mele, Old English melu; cognate with German Mehl, Dutch meel, Old Norse mjǫl, Gothic malan; akin to Latin molere “to grind” ( see mill ¹)

Origin of -meal³

Middle English -mele, Old English -mǣlum, combining form representing mǣl meal ¹

Explanation

When you eat a meal, you sit down and dine on food. Breakfast is usually the first meal of the day, but if you oversleep your first meal might be lunch instead. You can use the word meal to talk about the occasion (like dinner or brunch), or about the food itself. For example, you might say that chili and cornbread is your favorite meal during the colder months, or that a fast food hamburger eaten in the car is a poor excuse for a meal. Yet another meaning of meal is "edible ground grain or beans," like cornmeal or soybean meal.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

meal

“Following each meal, my entire family experienced acute onsets with violent vomiting, watery diarrhea, and profound weakness.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

"We either had to choose a meal or choose the bills."

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

Qing Wang, a fellow at the Asia Society, tells me that in Asian countries, “treating guests to a birthday meal fits a longstanding tradition of hospitality.”

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

Another tip is to consume dairy with a meal, says Dennis Savaiano, a professor of nutrition science at Purdue University who has received research funds from the milk and dairy industries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

When the poor little meal was finished, Granda stood up.

From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff

Related Words

• breakfast
• brunch
• dessert
• dinner
• fare
• feast
• lunch
• luncheon
• picnic
• refreshment
• snack
• supper
• table
• tea