Meaning & use
strawberries
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“strawberries” is a form of “strawberry”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nouncountable
Small soft red fruit with tiny seeds on its surface, grown on a low plant and eaten fresh or used in desserts.
Grammar: Countable: one strawberry, two strawberries; also used before another noun, as in strawberry jam.
Patterns
- a bowl of strawberries
- strawberries and cream
- pick strawberries
She bought a box of strawberries at the market.
We picked strawberries in the field behind the farm.
These strawberries are sweet enough to eat without sugar.
nouncountable
The low green plant that produces this fruit.
Grammar: Countable when talking about the plant itself: a strawberry grows well in this soil.
Patterns
- grow strawberries
- plant strawberries
- strawberries in the garden
They grow strawberries along the south wall of the garden.
Our strawberries died last winter because of the frost.
Word forms
| singular | strawberry |
|---|
Common combinations
- strawberry jam
- He spread strawberry jam on his toast.
- fresh strawberries
- The café serves fresh strawberries with yogurt.
- strawberries and cream
- Strawberries and cream is a classic summer dessert.
- a punnet of strawberries
- She picked up a punnet of strawberries for the picnic.
- wild strawberries
- We found wild strawberries growing near the path.
Synonyms and how they differ
- berry
- A general word for any small soft fruit; use 'berry' when you do not mean this specific fruit.
Word family
- strawberry noun
- The singular form, meaning one such fruit or the plant.
Commonly confused: strawberries or raspberry?
strawberries vs raspberry
A raspberry is a similar soft red fruit but with a hollow center and a rougher texture; strawberries have seeds on the outside.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses the word correctly.
Choose one answer.
'Strawberries' is the correct plural of 'strawberry', so option A fits. Option B uses the singular after a number, option C adds a wrong extra ending, and option D spells the plural incorrectly.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “strawberries”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.