Basic+ Word of the Day: meal

meal (noun)

A family meal

A meal is food served and eaten at one time.

• It's important to have at least one family meal every day.
• If you are hungry between meals, you should eat a healthy snack.
• The volunteers served the homeless people a hot meal.

Meal is also a coarse powder ground from nuts or the seeds of a grain.

• The fried chicken was coated with corn meal.
• Try using almond meal in place of some of the flour in your favorite muffin recipe.

Related words

mealy: having qualities of meal; powdery. When fruit tastes mealy, it is very bland.

piecemeal: one piece at a time. Example: “It’s quicker to do the job all at once, but Jeff insists on doing it piecemeal.”

In pop culture

Watch this video of Conan O’Brien, an American talk-show host, enjoying a traditional Korean meal with his friend Steven Yeun.

There are other meanings of meal.