Lemonade

//ˌlɛmənˈeɪd// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A flavoured beverage consisting of water, lemon, and sweetener, sometimes ice, served mainly as a refreshment. Canada, India, Philippines, US, countable, uncountable

    "Mrs. Murphy, who had […] stopped for a few minutes, at Mrs. Loring's invitation, to rest and enjoy the cool glass of lemonade that was very refreshing after her long walk."

  2. 2
    sweetened beverage of diluted lemon juice wordnet
  3. 3
    A clear, usually carbonated, beverage made from lemon or artificial lemon flavouring, water, and sugar. Australia, New-Zealand, UK, countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    Recreational drugs of poor or weak quality, especially heroin. countable, derogatory, slang, uncountable

    "In fact, a recent report from Denver shows it [street heroin] was about 1 to 2 percent and the addicts that are receiving this in many cases refer to it as lemonade, because it is so weak."

Example

More examples

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

Etymology

From French limonade, equivalent to lemon + -ade.

Related phrases

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