meal

meal — noun

1. a time when you eat food, or the food itself that you eat at that time — such as

1.nounA1
Definition

a time when you eat food, or the food itself that you eat at that time — such as a morning meal, a midday meal, or an evening meal

Example

The whole Silva family gathers for a big meal every Sunday evening.

collocation: big meal / light meal / square meal

Dylan forgot to eat lunch, so he made himself a quick meal before the meeting.

make + meal (prepare food to eat)

Common collocations
  • big meal
  • light meal
  • square meal
  • home-cooked meal
  • three-course meal
  • have a meal
  • eat a meal
  • skip a meal
  • make a meal
  • prepare a meal
  • cook a meal
  • serve a meal
Synonyms
  • dinner

    refers specifically to the main meal of the day, often in the evening

  • feast

    a large, elaborate meal for a celebration or special occasion

  • repast

    a formal word for a meal, rarely used in everyday conversation

Antonyms
  • snack

    a small amount of food eaten between meals

Grammar Patterns

have/eat + a/the/one's + meal

Common Mistakes

I cooked a meal chicken.
I cooked a meal of chicken.' or 'I cooked chicken for the meal.
'meal' is not a measure word; use 'of' or rephrase with 'for'.
We had meal at a restaurant.
We had a meal at a restaurant.
When 'meal' refers to a single eating occasion, it needs an article ('a', 'the', 'one's').

2. a dry, rough powder made by crushing seeds or grain, used mainly to feed animals

2.nounB2
Definition

a dry, rough powder made by crushing seeds or grain, used mainly to feed animals or to make flour for baking

Example

The farmer bought a large sack of corn meal to feed the chickens over winter.

meal as animal feed

Niran ground the dried seeds into a coarse meal using a traditional stone mill.

collocation: coarse meal / fine meal

Common collocations
  • corn meal
  • barley meal
  • oat meal
  • almond meal
  • soybean meal
  • coarse meal
  • fine meal
  • fish meal
Synonyms
  • flour

    a finer powder made from grain; meal is coarser than flour

  • powder

    a general term for any crushed solid, not specific to seeds or grain

  • grits

    specifically coarsely ground corn, a staple in Southern US cooking

Grammar Patterns

[type of grain] + meal

meal + [used as food/feed]

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1 — this meaning refers to crushed grain powder, not a food event. The two meanings come from different historical roots and do not share the same origin.

Common Mistakes

Add two meals of flour to the bowl.
Add two cups of meal to the bowl.
'meal' as ground grain is uncountable; use a measure word like 'cup', 'scoop', or 'bag'.
I bought meal for breakfast.
I bought oatmeal for breakfast.
'meal' as ground grain is not what you eat directly; specify the type of grain (e.g. 'oatmeal', 'cornmeal').
Idioms

make a meal of something

idiom

To take more time or effort than needed to do something, which can annoy others.

Mia made a meal of choosing a simple birthday card.

Why does Brian always make a meal of washing the dishes?

a square meal

idiom

A satisfying and complete meal that fills you up.

After hiking all day, we finally had a square meal.

Sara hasn't eaten a square meal in days.

meal — adverb

Word family

  • mealtime
    nounA2
  • piecemeal
    adverbC1
  • oatmeal
    nounB1
  • cornmeal
    nounB2
  • meal ticket
    nounC1
  • meal plan
    nounB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

'Dinner', 'feast', 'repast', and 'snack' all relate to eating, but each has a different scope. 'Dinner' is a specific meal of the day — usually the main meal, often in the evening. 'Feast' suggests a large, elaborate meal shared on a special occasion such as a wedding or holiday. 'Repast' is a formal or literary word for any meal and is rarely used in everyday conversation. 'Snack' contrasts with 'meal' — it refers to a small amount of food eaten between meals, not a full eating occasion. For example: 'We had a quick dinner before the movie' (specific meal), 'The wedding feast lasted for hours' (large celebration meal), and 'She grabbed a snack between meetings' (small food, not a meal).

dinner ↗feast ↗repastsnack ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • at meal times
  • between meals
  • after a meal
  • during a meal

Prepositions

Etymology

Proto-GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

The word 'meal' has two distinct origins that look the same in modern English but came from different Old English roots. The 'eating occasion' sense (sense 1) comes from Old English 'mǣl' meaning 'measure, fixed time, occasion' — originally a time measurement that came to mean the time for eating. The 'ground grain' sense (sense 2) comes from Old English 'melu' meaning 'ground grain, powder' — from a different Germanic root about crushing or grinding. These two words happened to sound and look the same over time.