cereal
nounadjectivecommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈsɪə.ɹɪ.əl//
- Canada/[ˈsiːɹiəl]/
A type of grass (such as wheat, rice or oats) cultivated for its edible grains.
noun
- 1
A type of grass (such as wheat, rice or oats) cultivated for its edible grains.
- 2
The grains of such a grass.
- 3
Breakfast cereal.
Would you like some cereal?
Which cereal would you like for breakfast?
a bowl of cereal
Etymology
Borrowed from French céréale (“having to do with cereal”), from Latin Cerealis (“of or relating to Ceres”), from Ceres (“Roman goddess of agriculture”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“grow”), from which also Latin sincerus (English sincere) and Latin crēscō (“grow”) (English crescent). The adjective is equivalent to Cere(s) + -al.
adjective
- 1
Of or relating to cereal.
Wheat .. is, of all the cereal seeds, the best adapted to the making of bread.
Millet, the smallest of all the cereal seeds cultivated for food, grows on arid soils, where rice and maize cannot be successfully cultivated, […]
The river flows on, washing the base of the sandstone fossiliferous bank at Preston-bridge,—lightening up the rich valley of Preston-haugh,—lending beauty to the open demesnes of Broomhouse, and to the sylvan and cereal grounds of Blanerne; […]
The species printed in small capitals are Corn-producing or Cereal Grasses, called Cereals, from Ceres, the Roman goddess of Corn.
Forms
- plural
- cereals
cereal · A type of grass (such as wheat, rice or oats) cultivated for its edible grains.
Cereal · A village in Alberta, Canada.cerebral · Of or relating to the brain, cerebrum, or cerebral cortex.ceremonial · Of, relating to, consisting of, or used in a ceremony.