noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   One of the substances present in a mixture, especially food.

   "Holonyms: mixture; whole"

2. 2
   a component of a mixture or compound wordnet
3. 3
   A necessary element to achieve a certain goal; a component. figuratively

   "Holonym: end result"

4. 4
   an abstract part of something wordnet
5. 5
   food that is a component of a mixture in cooking wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

componentcomponentconstituentadjunctagentappurtenance

Example

More examples

"Flour is the main ingredient in cakes."

Etymology

From Middle French ingredient, from Latin ingrediens, present participle of ingredior (“I go or enter into or onto”).

Related phrases

active ingredientinactive ingredientingredient deck

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.