skim milk

Meaning

1. 1noununcountable

   Milk from which almost all the cream and fat has been removed, so it is thinner and lower in calories.

   Grammar: Uncountable: a glass of skim milk, not a skim milk, unless you mean a carton.

   Patterns

   • a glass of skim milk
   • skim milk in something

   I ask for skim milk in my coffee to cut down on fat.

   She poured a glass of skim milk to go with her cereal.

   The recipe works with skim milk as well as whole milk.

Common combinations

glass of skim milk

He drank a glass of skim milk after the run.

carton of skim milk

Please buy a carton of skim milk at the store.

skim milk powder

Skim milk powder lasts a long time in the cupboard.

switch to skim milk

My doctor suggested I switch to skim milk.

skim milk latte

She orders a skim milk latte every morning.

Synonyms and how they differ

skimmed milk

The usual British form; it means the same thing, so choose it when writing for a British audience.

nonfat milk

Stresses that it has no fat, and is common on American labels, while skim milk describes how it is made.

fat-free milk

A label-style phrase that sounds more like marketing than the everyday skim milk.

Opposites

Word family

skim verb

to remove a layer from the top of a liquid

skimmed adjective

having had the top layer taken off

skimmer noun

a flat spoon or tool for taking off the top layer

Commonly confused: skim milk or whole milk?

Practice

Make it your own

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

Explore more words