dry fruit

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   Fruit that has been dried, usually to preserve it, such as raisins, dates or dried apricots.

   Grammar: Usually uncountable when talking about the food in general: 'a bag of dry fruit'. It can be countable when referring to types: 'several dry fruits'.

   Patterns

   • dry fruit
   • a piece of dry fruit
   • mixed dry fruit

   She packed some dry fruit for the journey.

   Dry fruit like raisins and dates keeps well.

   We bought a bag of mixed dry fruit at the market.

2. 2nouncountabletechnicalbiology

   In botany, a fruit that is dry at maturity and does not have a fleshy layer, such as a nut or a capsule.

   Grammar: Countable in this technical sense: 'a dry fruit', 'dry fruits'. It is used mainly in biology.

   Patterns

   • a dry fruit
   • dry fruits
   • dry fruit development

   A nut is a type of dry fruit.

   The plant produces a small dry fruit that splits open.

   Botanists classify the seed pod as a dry fruit.

Word forms

Common combinations

mixed dry fruit

Mixed dry fruit is a healthy snack.

dried fruit

Dried fruit such as apricots is often sold in bags.

a handful of dry fruit

He ate a handful of dry fruit before the hike.

dry fruit and nuts

They served dry fruit and nuts with tea.

Synonyms and how they differ

dried fruit

'Dried fruit' is the more common everyday term for fruit that has been dried; 'dry fruit' is often used in South Asian English and in botany.

desiccated fruit

This is a technical term for fruit that has been thoroughly dried, used mainly in food science.

Opposites

Word family

fruit noun

The general word for the sweet part of a plant that people eat.

fruity adjective

Tasting or smelling like fruit.

Commonly confused: dry fruit or dried fruit?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “dry fruit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words