melon
Americannoun
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melons
plural
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the fruit of any of various plants of the gourd family, as the muskmelon or watermelon.
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medium crimson or deep pink.
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the visible upper portion of the head of a surfacing whale or dolphin, including the beak, eyes, and blowhole.
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Informal.
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a large extra dividend, often in the form of stock, to be distributed to stockholders.
Profits zoomed so in the last quarter that the corporation cut a nice melon.
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any windfall of money to be divided among specified participants.
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noun
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any of several varieties of two cucurbitaceous vines, cultivated for their edible fruit See muskmelon watermelon
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the fruit of any of these plants, which has a hard rind and juicy flesh
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slang to declare an abnormally high dividend to shareholders
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of melon
1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin mēlōn- (stem of mēlō ), short for mēlopepō < Greek mēlopépōn apple-shaped melon, equivalent to mêlo ( n ) apple + pépōn pepo
Explanation
A melon is a round, sweet fruit with a hard outer skin. Add some color to your fruit salad by including different types of melon, like honeydew and cantaloupe. Melons are actually a type of berry, although you wouldn't know that to look at a watermelon, which can weigh 20 pounds or more. Melons grow on vines, like squash and gourds, and their rinds are so thick they need to be cut open with a sharp knife. When a melon is ripe, its flesh is soft, sweet, and juicy. The Greek root is mēlopepon, "gourd-apple."
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:
At the Farmers Market, breakfast is maybe three oranges, two apples, a basket of strawberries, half a melon and two peaches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Some batches are heavy on berries, some heavy on melon, but no two are the same.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
The ball, which is recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest, external, is roughly the size of a small melon.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
The son of an Australian melon farmer, Greensill worked at Morgan Stanley and Citigroup before founding his own firm in 2011.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
At the dinner table, I threw dark looks at Ba over the greens, bitter melon, and pork Ma pushed at me, but he avoided my gaze and kept his eyes moodily on his plate.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Tokyo on Wednesday played down comments by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about melons gifted to him by his Japanese counterpart that have triggered a row Down Under, stressing the leaders' good relationship.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
During an appearance on the Bush Deep podcast, Albanese gestured near his chest while referring to the crown melons, calling them "pretty strange" gifts that "ended up being quite good".
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
With dinner already half-imagined, I could pass the tomatoes and melons without treating each one as an alternate future I might regret abandoning.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
Whole fruits included apples, oranges, bananas, mangos, grapes, pears, melons, strawberries and peaches.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026
The earth had yielded richly: there were, besides, beans and potatoes, melons and chillies, and I was well pleased with them and with the silver coins I had received in exchange.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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.
