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mincemeat

American  
[mins-meet] / ˈmɪnsˌmit /

noun

  1. a mixture composed of minced apples, raisins, currants, candied citron, suet, etc., originally and traditionally also containing meat, for filling a pie.

  2. meat that is ground up or cut in very small pieces.


idioms

  1. make mincemeat of, to destroy utterly.

    He made mincemeat of his opponent's charges.

mincemeat British  
/ ˈmɪnsˌmiːt /

noun

  1. a mixture of dried fruit, spices, etc, used esp for filling pies

  2. minced meat

  3. informal to defeat completely

"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

mincemeat More Idioms  

Etymology

Origin of mincemeat

First recorded in 1655–65; mince + meat


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:

“But then I thought there’s mincemeat pie — I mean, that’s an English dessert. These people just put very strange things in their food.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2025

A franchise once known for its inevitable victories — 24 straight to open its 73-win campaign in 2015-16 and a 16-1 jaunt through the 2017 postseason — now regularly looked like mincemeat.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 15, 2023

The EU's chief negotiator Maros Šefčovic said that lorries entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain would only require a three-page certificate, though separate certification would still be needed for higher-risk goods such as chilled mincemeat.

From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2023

One of the nation’s best aerial games will make mincemeat of CU’s porous pass defense.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 17, 2022

Alice had been beloved of Randall, and now James Randall, who had grown tall on her mincemeat pies.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

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