pear
Americannoun
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the edible fruit, typically rounded but elongated and growing smaller toward the stem, of a tree, Pyrus communis, of the rose family.
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the tree itself.
noun
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a widely cultivated rosaceous tree, Pyrus communis, having white flowers and edible fruits
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the sweet gritty-textured juicy fruit of this tree, which has a globular base and tapers towards the apex
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the wood of this tree, used for making furniture
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informal to go wrong
the plan started to go pear-shaped
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of pear
First recorded before 1000; Middle English pe(e)re, Old English peru, from Late Latin pira, feminine singular use of plural of Latin pirum (neuter) “pear”
Vocabulary lists containing pear
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.
Faizi said that the village, which once produced only apples and walnuts, now has cherry, pear, and peach trees, among others.
From Barron's • Jul. 1, 2026
The Aire Sutileza Elixir is floral, fresh and earthy, featuring notes of pear, lemon, jasmine sambac, vetiver, sandalwood and musk.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026
Coffee pecan torte, spiced pear sponge with miso caramel.
From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026
Then there’s the less technical, but equally relevant sensory experience each perfume evokes: a pear orchard in the fall or a bucket of blackberries on a hot summer day.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 2, 2025
He lay in the dry wash, about where I’d left it to go running through the prickly pear.
From "Old Yeller" by Fred Gipson
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.
