grain

noun \ ˈgrān \

|Updated on: 7 Aug 2018

Definition of grain

1 a (1) obsolete : a single small hard seed

(2) : a seed or fruit of a cereal grass : caryopsis

b : the seeds or fruits of various food plants including the cereal grasses and in commercial and statutory usage other plants (such as the soybean)

c : plants producing grain

2 a (1) : a small hard particle or crystal

(2) : any of the particles produced in a photographic material by its development; also : the size of such grains in the aggregate

(3) : an individual crystal in a metal

b : a minute portion or particle

c : the least amount possible

a grain of truth

3 a : kermes or a scarlet dye made from it

b : cochineal or a brilliant scarlet dye made from it

c : a fast dye

d archaic : color, tint

4 a : a granulated surface or appearance

b : the outer or hair side of a skin or hide

5 : a unit of weight based on the weight of a grain of wheat taken as an average of the weight of grains from the middle of the ear — see Weights and Measures Table

6 a : the stratification of the wood fibers in a piece of wood

b : a texture due to constituent particles or fibers

the grain of a rock

c : the direction of threads in cloth

7 : tactile quality

8 a : natural disposition : temper

lying goes against my grain

b : a basic or characteristic quality

c : a prevalent ideology or convention

teaching against the grain

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grained

play \ˈgrānd\ adjective

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grainless

adjective

See grain defined for English-language learners

See grain defined for kids

Examples of grain in a Sentence

bread made from whole wheat grain
The machine grinds grain into flour.
The farm grows a variety of grains.
Anyone with a grain of sense knows that she's lying.
There is not a grain of truth in what he said.

Recent Examples of grain from the Web

Plus, the full-grain aniline leather looks better with use.

— bryan rogala, Outside Online, "10 Products That Will Turn You Into a Grill Master," 13 July 2018
In these cultures, and for vegetarians anywhere, people get protein nutrients other ways–from vegetables, grains, and legumes.

— emily dreyfuss, WIRED, "In Defense of the Vegan Hot Dog," 4 July 2018
In it, whole-grain bulgur wheat, cumin, garlic and herbs are mixed with lean ground lamb to form flavor-packed, Middle-Eastern-style meat patties that are chargrilled and served with a lemony three-herb sauce.

— ellie krieger, charlotteobserver, "Bulgur + lamb = good stuff on the grill," 26 June 2018
Lectin is a protein present in most foods, but pulses, legumes, whole grains, vegetables, and fruit contain particularly high amounts.

— jaclyn london, ms, rd, cdn, Good Housekeeping, "How Kelly Clarkson Lost Nearly 40 Pounds on the Plant Paradox Diet," 25 June 2018
Instead, at the beginning of the week, lay out five small containers and fill them with healthy snacks—like nuts, dried fruit, and whole-grain crackers—and do your best not to buy any other snacks for the week.

— krissy brady, Health.com, "9 Ways to Make Healthier Food Choices—Even When You're Exhausted," 21 June 2018
Make Zesty Pickle and Onion Fixin': Stir together pickles, white onion, fresh flat-leaf parsley, and whole-grain mustard in a bowl.

— kristina kurek, Country Living, "Grilled Hotdogs with Fixin's," 13 June 2018
Start with quality sourdough or whole-grain bread, then drizzle it with avocado oil and grill.

— susan russo, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Avocado aficionado: Sam the Cooking Guy," 4 June 2018
The finest-grain samples proved most lethal, killing up to 90 percent of the cells that had been exposed to them.

— brandon specktor, Fox News, "Moon dust could give astronauts permanent DNA damage, study finds," 17 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'grain.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of grain

Middle English, partly from Anglo-French grain cereal grain, from Latin granum; partly from Anglo-French graine seed, kermes, from Latin grana, plural of granum — more at corn

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First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)

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grain Synonyms

Synonyms

atom, bit, crumb, dribble, fleck, flyspeck, granule, molecule, morsel, mote, nubbin, nugget, particle, patch, scrap, scruple, snip, snippet, speck, tittle;

Near Antonyms

chunk, gob, hunk, lump, slab;

abundance, barrel, bucket, bushel, deal, heaps, loads, mass, mountain, peck, pile, pot, profusion, quantity, raft, scads, stack, volume, wad, wealth;

bite, mouthful, nibble, tidbit (also titbit);

fragment, part, portion, section;

chip, flake, shard, shiver, sliver, splinter;

clipping, paring, shaving;

smithereens;

Other Seed Plant Terms

aubergine, box, bramble, briar, composite, perpetual, pulse, trefoil

grain

verb

Definition of grain

grained; graining; grains

transitive verb

1 : ingrain

2 : to form into grains : granulate

3 : to paint in imitation of the grain of wood or stone

4 : to feed with grain

intransitive verb

: to become granular : granulate

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grainer

noun

Recent Examples of grain from the Web

Within 15 minutes, a portion of this radioactive dust — mostly grains the size of salt or sand — would begin to fall directly on the city.

— Daily Intelligencer, "This Is What a Nuclear Bomb Looks Like," 12 June 2018
The raw flesh of the fish is opalescent, fine-grained and smooth and nearly translucent, with a flavor to match.

— ben lowy, Smithsonian, "The Lionfish Have Invaded, But a Ragtag Army of Divers and Chefs Are Fighting Back," 23 May 2018
As in other full-size pickups at this price, the dashboard is largely made up of hard plastics, although their graining looks nice and most critical touch points inside the F-150 are made from softer materials.

— alexander stoklosa, Car and Driver, "2018 Ford F-150 2.7L EcoBoost V-6 4x2 SuperCrew," 9 Mar. 2018
Very few interior panels are soft to the touch, but the vast expanses of hard plastic are nicely grained and don’t feel cheap.

— drew dorian, Car and Driver, "2018 Hyundai Accent," 24 Jan. 2018
The official data were not fine-grained enough to reveal such patterns.

— The Economist, "Punk scienceDo-it-yourself Science is taking off," 16 Dec. 2017
Because there were, on average, 20 routers in each station in the pilot, London’s data are quite fine-grained.

— henry grabar, Slate Magazine, "A brilliant experiment is helping the London subway find out how people really travel.," 16 Oct. 2017
That said, his big, coarse-grained, penetrating sound carried forcefully to the back of the house.

— john von rhein, chicagotribune.com, "Vocal sparks fly in Lyric Opera's riveting 'Rigoletto'," 8 Oct. 2017
Interior Features A simple dashboard is dressed up nicely with finely grained, soft-touch plastics and, on the Ultimate trim, open-pore wood veneer that looks upscale—although some materials aren’t as nice as those in rival luxury sedans.

— michael simari, Car and Driver, "2018 Genesis G80," 3 Aug. 2017

First Known Use of grain

1530

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

See Words from the same year

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GRAIN Defined for English Language Learners

grain

noun

Definition of grain for English Language Learners

: the seeds of plants (such as wheat, corn, and rice) that are used for food; also : a single seed of wheat, corn, rice, etc.
: a plant that produces grain
: a small, hard piece of something