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Meaning & use

veg

noun, verb·Everydayinformal

Last updated

UK/vedʒ/
US/vedʒ/

Meanings

  1. noununcountableinformalBritish

    Vegetables, as a part of a meal or as food in general.

    Grammar: Used without an or a plural: a bit of veg, not a veg.

    Patterns

    • meat and veg
    • fresh veg

    Dinner was roast chicken with potatoes and some green veg.

    We buy our veg from a stall at the market.

    Try to eat more veg and fewer processed snacks.

  2. verbphrasal verbinformal

    To rest in a lazy way, doing nothing useful, often in front of a screen.

    Grammar: Almost always used in veg out, with no object: I just want to veg out tonight.

    Patterns

    • veg out
    • veg out in front of something

    After the exams, we vegged out on the sofa all weekend.

    I plan to veg out and watch old movies tonight.

    He was too tired to do anything but veg in front of the TV.

Word forms

third person singularvegs
past tensevegged
past participlevegged
-ing formvegging

Common combinations

meat and two veg
His favorite meal is plain meat and two veg.
root veg
She roasted a tray of root veg for the soup.
veg box
Our weekly veg box arrives on Thursday mornings.
veg patch
He spends every weekend digging the veg patch.
veg out
Let's just veg out and order a pizza.

Synonyms and how they differ

veggies
Veggies is also informal but more common in American English, and it usually counts individual vegetables.
vegetables
Vegetables is the full, neutral word and fits any situation, including formal writing.
greens
Greens means only leafy vegetables, whereas veg covers every kind.
chill out
Chill out is an informal way to relax, but it does not suggest doing nothing at all as veg out does.

Word family

vegetable noun
a plant or part of a plant eaten as food
veggie noun
informal word for a vegetable or a vegetarian
vegetarian noun
a person who does not eat meat
vegetate verb
to live or spend time in a dull, inactive way

Commonly confused: veg or veggie?

veg vs veggie

Veggie is the more widespread informal form, particularly in American English, and it can also mean a vegetarian; veg is mainly British and works as a mass noun.

Practice

Which sentence uses veg in the sense of relaxing and doing nothing?

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