Meaning & use
olive
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Meanings
nouncountable
A small oval fruit with a bitter taste, eaten as food or pressed to make oil.
Grammar: Countable: an olive, two olives, a bowl of olives.
Patterns
- an olive
- a bowl of olives
- olive oil
She added a handful of chopped olives to the salad.
These olives are quite salty, so I only eat a few at a time.
The recipe calls for green olives and a little lemon juice.
noununcountable
A dull yellowish-green color, like the unripe fruit of the olive tree.
Grammar: Uncountable when referring to the color: a dress in olive.
Patterns
- in olive
- olive green
The walls were painted a soft olive.
She chose an olive green scarf to match her coat.
adjectivenot comparable
Having a dull yellowish-green color, or describing skin with brownish undertones.
Grammar: Usually before a noun: olive skin, an olive jacket.
Patterns
- olive skin
- olive green
He has olive skin that tans easily in summer.
The sofa is a dark olive color.
nouncountablebiology
The tree that produces olives, grown in warm regions around the Mediterranean.
Grammar: Countable: an olive tree, olive groves.
Patterns
- olive tree
- olive grove
The hillside was covered with olive trees.
Olives have been grown in this region for thousands of years.
Word forms
| plural | olives |
|---|
Common combinations
- olive oil
- Drizzle some olive oil over the tomatoes.
- green olives
- Green olives are usually firmer than black ones.
- olive branch
- He offered an olive branch by inviting her to talk.
- olive grove
- The family owns a small olive grove in southern Spain.
- olive skin
- People with olive skin often tan easily.
Word family
- olive adjective
- Describing the color or skin tone, as in olive green.
Commonly confused: olive or oval?
olive vs oval
Oval means shaped like an egg; olive is the fruit or its color. They sound similar but are different words.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
Choose one answer.
Olive is a countable noun beginning with a vowel sound, so 'an olive' is correct. 'An olive' is wrong because 'a' is not used before a vowel sound; 'some olive' suggests an uncountable mass; 'the olive' would imply a specific olive already mentioned.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “olive”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.