meal

meal — noun

  • mealsingular
  • mealsplural

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

1.名詞A1
釋義

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

例句

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)

同義詞
  • 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

反義詞
  • snack

    a small amount of food eaten between meals

文法句型

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

常見錯誤

❌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.名詞B2
釋義

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

例句

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

同義詞
  • 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

文法句型

[type of grain] + meal

meal + [used as food/feed]

用法筆記

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.

常見錯誤

❌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').

meal — adverb