grape

grape — noun

1. a small rounded fruit that climbing vines produce in hanging bunches. Its colour

1.nounA2
Definition

a small rounded fruit that climbing vines produce in hanging bunches. Its colours range from light green to deep purple, and people eat it fresh, dry it into raisins, or press it to make wine.

Example

Nia bought a bunch of green grapes for her lunch.

collocation: a bunch of grapes

At the market, Xiu chose the purple grapes because they looked sweeter.

adjective + grapes: purple / green grapes

Common collocations
  • a bunch of grapes
  • seedless grapes
  • green grapes
  • purple grapes
  • red grapes
  • grape juice
  • grape harvest
  • grape vine
Synonyms
  • berry

    a broader category; every grape is a berry botanically, but everyday English distinguishes grapes from berries like strawberries or blueberries

  • raisin

    a dried grape, not fresh — different texture and sweetness level

Usage Note

Countable noun — you say a grape (one piece) or grapes (many). The collective phrase a bunch of grapes is very common in shopping and cooking contexts.

Common Mistakes

I ate a berry of grapes.
I ate a grape.
Grape is the name of the individual fruit, not a category like berry.
I bought grape for the salad.' (singular uncountable)
I bought grapes for the salad.
In everyday use, grapes is plural; a grape is one piece.

2. a way of referring to wine, especially in informal conversation about drinking h

2.nounC1
Definition

a way of referring to wine, especially in informal conversation about drinking habits, restaurant menus, or wine culture. Usually used with the definite article: the grape.

Example

After dinner, Karim offered everyone a glass of the grape.

the grape = wine (informal metonym)

Felix does not drink the grape, so he ordered sparkling water instead.

negative: does not drink the grape

Common collocations
  • drink the grape
  • the grape
  • a glass of the grape
  • a bottle of the grape
Synonyms
  • wine

    the standard term for the drink, appropriate in all contexts; grape is informal and less frequent

Grammar Patterns

the grape

Usage Note

Only found in informal registers. The definite article the is required — a grape (without the) always refers to the fruit, even in wine-industry contexts. Distinguish from sense 1 by the presence of the before grape.

Common Mistakes

I spilled grape on my shirt.
I spilled wine on my shirt.
Without the, grape means the fruit, not wine.
He ordered a bottle of grape.
He ordered a bottle of wine.' or 'He ordered a bottle of the grape.
The definite article is required for the wine meaning.
Idioms

sour grapes

idiom

a negative reaction in which someone pretends not to want or care about something, simply because they cannot have it themselves

After losing the race, Arjun said he did not care about winning — that was just sour grapes.

Rachel dismissed the award as unimportant, but her friends knew it was sour grapes.

Word family

  • grapevine
    nounB2
  • grapeseed
    nounC1
  • grape juice
    nounA2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Grape is a specific fruit that grows in bunches, while berry is a broad category covering many small fleshy fruits (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries) — not all berries are grapes, though botanically grapes are berries. Raisin is a dried grape, darker and sweeter, commonly used in baking. Currant is ambiguous: in British English it can mean a small dried grape (similar to a raisin) or a fresh tart berry (redcurrant, blackcurrant) from a different plant family entirely. Sultana is a specific type of dried grape, usually made from seedless green grapes and lighter in colour than a raisin. For everyday eating, you pick fresh grapes from a bunch; for baking, you add raisins or sultanas to cakes.

berry ↗raisin ↗currantsultana

Common collocations

Nouns

  • grapevine
  • grape juice
  • grape harvest
  • grape grower
  • grape picker

Phrases

  • a bunch of grapes
  • a cluster of grapes
  • seedless grapes
  • the grape

Prepositions

Etymology

FrankishOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

The word grape comes from Old French grappe, which originally meant a cluster or bunch of fruit on a vine. In earlier English, a grape was the entire cluster, not a single fruit — the meaning shifted to the individual berry around the 1400s. The French word itself came from a Frankish (Germanic) root *krappō, meaning 'hook' or 'curved tool', possibly from the hooked shape of a vine tendril or a harvesting tool.