Meaning & use
olives
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“olives” is a form of “olive”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounplural
Small oval fruits with a bitter taste and a hard stone, eaten as food or used to make oil.
Grammar: This is the plural of 'olive'. Use it for more than one fruit: 'I bought some olives.' For one, say 'an olive'.
Patterns
- a bowl of olives
- green/black olives
- add olives to something
She put a bowl of green olives on the table before dinner.
I don't like black olives, but I love the green ones.
We bought olives, cheese, and bread for a simple lunch.
nounplural
The trees on which these fruits grow, especially in warm Mediterranean countries.
Grammar: Plural of 'olive' when it refers to the tree. The singular is 'an olive tree' or 'an olive'.
Patterns
- grow olives
- olive groves
The farmers grow olives on the hills above the village.
These olives are hundreds of years old and still produce fruit.
Word forms
| singular | olive |
|---|
Common combinations
- green olives
- Green olives are usually firmer than black ones.
- black olives
- He ordered a pizza with black olives and mushrooms.
- olive oil
- The recipe calls for two tablespoons of olive oil.
- a bowl of olives
- They served a bowl of olives with the drinks.
- olive grove
- An olive grove covered the slope behind the house.
Word family
Commonly confused: olives or oval?
olives vs oval
Oval means shaped like an egg. Olives are oval, but the word 'oval' does not mean the fruit.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
'Olives' is the plural fruit you add to a salad. 'Some olive' is wrong because 'olive' as a fruit is countable and needs a plural or 'an'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “olives”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.