Cereal Meaning
/ˈsɪə.ɹɪ.əl/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA type of grass (such as wheat, rice or oats) cultivated for its edible grains.
nounThe grains of such a grass.
Sentence Examples
What the hell? That guy got his license from a cereal box!
What's your favorite cereal?
I have a bowl of cereal every morning.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
For breakfast, he poured a bowl of crunchy ____ and added milk.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I usually have a bowl of ____ with fresh milk for my breakfast today.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from French céréale (“having to do with cereal”), from Latin Cerealis (“of or relating to Ceres”), from Ceres (“Roman goddess of agriculture”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“grow”), from which also Latin sincerus (English sincere) and Latin crēscō (“grow”) (English crescent). The adjective is equivalent to Cere(s) + -al.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Wheat .. is, of all the cereal seeds, the best adapted to the making of bread."
— 1818, H[enry] T[homas] Colebrooke, On Import of Colonial Corn, London: J[ohn] Murray, →OCLC, page 20; quoted in “Cereal (sīᵊ·riˌăl), a. and sb.”, in James A[ugustus] H[enry] Murray [et al.], editors, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume II (C), London: Clarendon Press, 1884–1928, →OCLC, page 230, column 1:
"Millet, the smallest of all the cereal seeds cultivated for food, grows on arid soils, where rice and maize cannot be successfully cultivated, […]"
— 1837, Henry Duncan, “Eleventh Week—Wednesday. The Corn-Plants.—Rice, Maize, and Millet.”, in Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons; Illustrating the Perfections of God in the Phenomena of the Year, [volume 1] (Spring), Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Son; […], →OCLC, page 333:
"The river flows on, washing the base of the sandstone fossiliferous bank at Preston-bridge,—lightening up the rich valley of Preston-haugh,—lending beauty to the open demesnes of Broomhouse, and to the sylvan and cereal grounds of Blanerne; […]"
— 1853, George Johnston, “The Natural History of the Eastern Borders”, in The Botany of the Eastern Borders, […], London: John Van Voorst, […], →OCLC, page 19:
"The species printed in small capitals are Corn-producing or Cereal Grasses, called Cereals, from Ceres, the Roman goddess of Corn."
— 1864, Daniel Oliver, “Natural Order—Gramineæ. The Grass Family.”, in Lessons in Elementary Botany. […], London; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, part II (Classification of Plants), class II (Monocotyledons), sub-class Glumiferæ, page 267:
"By means of statues and coinage depicting his wife Livia in the guise of Ceres and himself in the Cereal crown of the Arval Brethren, Augustus implied that his own godlike charisma helped keep the plebeians fed […]"
— 2013, Giovanni Casadio, Patricia A. Johnston, Mystic Cults in Magna Graecia:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
For breakfast, he poured a bowl of crunchy ____ and added milk.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I usually have a bowl of ____ with fresh milk for my breakfast today.