grain
noun
\ ˈgrān
\
\
Definition of grain
(Entry 1 of 2)
1a(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
2a(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
3a
: kermes or a scarlet dye made from it
b
: cochineal or a brilliant scarlet dye made from it
c
: a fast dye
4a
: 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
6a
: 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
8a
: natural disposition : temper
lying goes against my grain
b
: a basic or characteristic quality
c
: a prevalent ideology or convention
teaching against the grain
grain
verb
grained;
graining;
grains
Definition of grain (Entry 2 of 2)
: to become granular : granulate
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Other Words from grain
Noun
grained
\ ˈgrānd
\
adjective
\
adjective
grainless
adjective
Verb
grainer
noun
Synonyms for grain
Synonyms: Noun
atom, bit, crumb, dribble, fleck, flyspeck, granule, molecule, morsel, mote, nubbin, nugget, particle, patch, scrap, scruple, snip, snippet, speck, tittle
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Examples of grain in a Sentence
Noun
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 on the Web: Noun
The park is an amazement: winds from the west and southwest lift grains of sand from the grasses and sagebrush of the valley and deposit the finest ones, creating gigantic dunes. — Ted Conover, Harper's magazine, "The Last Frontier," 22 July 2019 The park is an amazement: winds from the west and southwest lift grains of sand from the grasses and sagebrush of the valley and deposit the finest ones, creating gigantic dunes. — Dan Baum, Harpers Magazine, "August 2019," 22 July 2019 Making hard seltzer is really similar to the process for brewing beer, but instead of extracting the sugars from grain, brewers start with a sugar-water solution and add the yeast straight to it. — Jess Fleming, Twin Cities, "Twin Cities breweries getting in on hard seltzer craze," 20 June 2019 The rings consist of billions of particles ranging in size from grains of sand to flying mountains, which are made of — or covered by — water ice. — Joe Rao, Space.com, "The Moon Has a Close Encounter with Saturn on Tuesday Night," 23 July 2018 Made in Kentucky entirely from American grain, Heroes Vodka has been scooping up gold and silver medals all over the world. — Allison Barrie, Fox News, "Top patriotic BBQ gear for July 4," 3 July 2018 Unlike the conventional method of distilling vodka from grains or potatoes and blending it with water, Black Cow Vodka starts and ends with whey, the watery byproduct of the cheesemaking process. — Brandy Gonsoulin, chicagotribune.com, "Vodka — made from milk? Yes.," 27 June 2018 On tours, visitors will witness the creation of modern spirits from grain to bottle. — Gabe Hauari, The Courier-Journal, "Tour these top Kentucky distilleries. Shocker! They're mostly bourbon," 20 June 2018 The distillery would offer tours, tastings, classes and special events surrounding its handcrafted whiskey and gin varieties sourced from local grains. — Erin Hegarty, Naperville Sun, "Old Nichols Library won't work for craft distillery, other Naperville locations being scouted," 16 June 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
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. —