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rice
ricenounthe starchy seeds or grain of an annual marsh grass, Oryza sativa, cultivated in warm climates and used for food.
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Rice
RicenounAnne, 1941–2021, U.S. novelist.
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RICE
RICEacronymrest, ice, compression, elevation: the recommended procedure for controlling inflammation in injured limbs or joints
rice
1 Americannoun
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the starchy seeds or grain of an annual marsh grass, Oryza sativa, cultivated in warm climates and used for food.
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the grass itself.
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a food that is chopped or otherwise processed to resemble rice (used in combination): sweet potato rice.
cauliflower rice;
sweet potato rice.
verb (used with object)
noun
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Anne, 1941–2021, U.S. novelist.
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Dan Daniel McLaren, 1823–1900, U.S. circus clown, circus owner, and Union patriot.
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Elmer, 1892–1967, U.S. playwright.
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Jerry Lee, born 1962, U.S. football player.
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Grantland 1880–1954, U.S. journalist.
noun
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an erect grass, Oryza sativa , that grows in East Asia on wet ground and has drooping flower spikes and yellow oblong edible grains that become white when polished
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the grain of this plant
verb
acronym
noun
Etymology
Origin of rice
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English ris, rys, from Old French, from Italian riso, risi (in Medieval Latin risium ), from Medieval Greek orýzion, derivative of Greek óryza, from an Iranian language, e.g., Old Persian brizi, Pashto vrižē; akin to Sanskrit vrīhi-, perhaps ultimately of Dravidian origin
Explanation
Rice is a kind of plant, as well as the grain that comes from it. At some Chinese restaurants, you get a choice between white rice and brown rice. White rice is processed or "polished," so the outer germ is removed — it's a staple of Chinese and Indian cuisine, among others. There are many varieties of rice, defined by the color and length of the individual grain. When rice is a verb, it means "force through a sieve," or in other words, to take something like a potato and make it look like rice. We can trace the origin of rice back to the Sanskrit vrihi-s.
Vocabulary lists containing rice
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.
The first night, I topped bowls with avocado and sour cream; the second, I spooned leftovers over white rice with shredded cabbage and green onion left over from another dinner earlier in the week.
From Salon • May 19, 2026
Hussein Abu Saddam, head of the Farmers' Syndicate, expects fertiliser-intensive crops such as wheat, maize and rice to decline if costs stay high.
From Barron's • May 15, 2026
It takes Gillaspia, who is known for his videos on running and baking sourdough bread, about 30-45 minutes to cook up a batch of the ground beef and white rice mixture.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026
"For example, the long-tailed pygmy rice rat, whose original habitat was the Patagonian Andes and north-western Argentina, can now be found in the province of Buenos Aires alongside other rodents that transmit the disease."
From BBC • May 10, 2026
It was a warm, cloudless night with no wind, and the reflection of the full moon glowed on the still, black water of the rice paddies.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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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.