meat

noun

\ ˈmēt

\

Definition of meat

1a : food especially : solid food as distinguished from drink

b : the edible part of something as distinguished from its covering (such as a husk or shell)

2 : animal tissue considered especially as food:

a : flesh sense 2b also : flesh of a mammal as opposed to fowl or fish

b : flesh sense 1a specifically : flesh of domesticated animals

3 archaic : meal entry 1 sense 1 especially : dinner

4a : the core of something : heart

b : pith sense 2b a novel with meat

5 : favorite pursuit or interest

Other Words from meat Synonyms Example Sentences Learn More about meat

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Examples of meat in a Sentence

The restaurant serves a variety of meats. The real meat of the book is found in its discussion of his economic plan.

Recent Examples on the Web

The squash is picked from fields of frothing cosmos; the honey is harvested from bees fed on marigolds; the yak meat is bought from farmers and stirred into warming noodle broths. — Sophy Roberts, Condé Nast Traveler, "On Your Next Trip to Nepal, Rent the House Sir Edmund Hillary Loved," 20 Dec. 2018 Turns out, deli meat is a more difficult medium to work with than Dikk anticipated. — Kate Bennis, Good Housekeeping, "Watch This Instagrammer Test Some Seriously Bizarre Retro Recipes," 12 Dec. 2018 Qualcomm Ready to take on Intel’s Core, yet again The meat of the new Snapdragon 8cx is in the CPU and the GPU—the Kryo 495 and the Adreno 680, respectively. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, "Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8cx for PCs aims to overcome the performance gap," 6 Dec. 2018 Discard the skin and bones and cut the meat in ¾-inch dice. — Elise Taylor, Vogue, "What’s on the Menu at the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards Dinner? Chicken Pot Pie, of Course," 6 Nov. 2018 Then the part that looks like an egg slicer removes the meat in easily mashable strips. — Jacqueline Detwiler, Popular Mechanics, "You Need This Avocado Tool in Your Kitchen," 27 Dec. 2018 Even meat-lovers will be reaching for spoonfuls of this deliciously creamy pasta. — Woman's Day Kitchen, Woman's Day, "Creamy Broccolini Pasta with Chile Breadcrumbs," 19 Dec. 2018 The meat rises to the temperature of the bath, but no higher. — James Lynch, Popular Mechanics, "Late to the Party: Sous Vide," 12 Dec. 2018 Formaldehyde was also used as a preservative in meat. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "We have food safety laws thanks to 19th century “poison squad”," 26 Nov. 2018

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

History and Etymology for meat

Middle English mete "food, meal," going back to Old English, going back to Germanic *mati- (whence Old Saxon meti, mat "food," Old High German maz, Old Norse matr, Gothic mats), perhaps going back to Indo-European *mod-i-, derivative of a verbal base *med- "become full," whence Greek mestós "full, satiated"

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More Definitions for meat

meat

noun

English Language Learners Definition of meat

: the flesh of an animal used as food

: a type of meat

: the part of something (such as a nut) that can be eaten

See the full definition for meat in the English Language Learners Dictionary

meat

noun

\ ˈmēt

\

Kids Definition of meat

1 : the flesh of an animal used as food

Hint: The word meat often does not include the flesh of fish or seafood.

2 : solid food as distinguished from drink

3 : the part of something that can be eaten nut meats

4 : the most important part : substance Get to the meat of the story.

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