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Definition of "grain" []

  • A small, dry, one-seeded fruit of a cereal grass, having the fruit and the seed walls united: a single grain of wheat; gleaned the grains from the ground one at a time. Also called caryopsis. (noun)
  • The fruits of cereal grasses especially after having been harvested, considered as a group: The grain was stored in a silo. (noun)
  • A cereal grass: Wheat is a grain grown in Kansas. (noun)
  • Cereal grasses considered as a group: Grain is grown along the river. (noun)
  • A relatively small discrete particulate or crystalline mass: a grain of sand. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "grain" in a sentence
  • "We are not happy with whole grain machine-made bread, and I have never known anyone happy with *whole grain* machine-made bread, no matter what King Arthur Flour may say."
  • "They severally represented a function, a moment in the life of man or of the universe; thus Naprît was identified with the ripe ear, or the grain of wheat; [**] ** The word _naprît_ means _grain_, the grain of wheat."
  • "Livelier than ... the _grain_ Of Sarra, "etc. And as these were fast or durable colours we have such phrases as 'to dye in grain,'"