fruit

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable or uncountable

   Something such as an apple, orange or berry that grows on a plant and is eaten, usually sweet and juicy.

   Grammar: Uncountable for fruit in general: eat more fruit; countable for kinds: tropical fruits.

   Patterns

   • fresh fruit
   • a piece of fruit

   I usually eat fruit with my breakfast.

   Mangoes and papayas are tropical fruits.

   She bought a bag of fruit at the market.

2. 2nouncountablebiologytechnical

   The seed-bearing part of any flowering plant, whether or not it is edible.

   Grammar: Countable in botany: a tomato is technically a fruit.

   Botanists classify a pea pod as a fruit.

   The fruit of the oak tree is the acorn.

3. 3nounusually pluralfigurative

   The good result that comes from effort, work or a process.

   Grammar: Usually plural and followed by of: the fruits of their labor.

   Patterns

   • the fruits of something
   • bear fruit

   After years of study, she enjoyed the fruits of her labor.

   Their long negotiations finally bore fruit.

   The new law is the fruit of a decade of campaigning.

4. 4verbintransitive

   To produce fruit, as a tree or plant does.

   Grammar: No object: the pear tree fruits in autumn.

   The plum trees fruit heavily every other year.

   These bushes fruit best in full sun.

Word forms

Common combinations

fresh fruit

There was a bowl of fresh fruit on the table.

dried fruit

I packed some dried fruit for the hike.

bear fruit

Her plan began to bear fruit within a year.

fruit juice

He drinks a glass of fruit juice each morning.

fruit salad

We made a fruit salad for the picnic.

Synonyms and how they differ

produce

Produce covers fruit and vegetables together, especially in shops, so it is wider than fruit.

result

Result is neutral, while the fruits of something specifically suggests a reward earned by effort.

reward

Reward highlights the benefit received, whereas fruit highlights something that grew from the work.

harvest

Harvest means the crop gathered, and in figurative use it usually describes gains in a stronger, more concrete way.

Word family

fruity adjective

tasting or smelling of fruit

fruitful adjective

producing good results

fruitless adjective

producing no result

fruition noun

the point at which a plan becomes real

Commonly confused: fruit or vegetable?

Practice

Make it your own

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

Explore more words