What does "rice" mean?
Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food.
Rice
/ɹaɪs/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food.
- Grammar: rice is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: annam, cereal, extrude, grain.
- Useful contrasts: amaranth, chunk, coarsen.
- Usage evidence: Do you eat rice in your country?
How to use "rice"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "rice" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "rice" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "rice" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "rice" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "rice" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "annam" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "rice", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food. uncountable
"Rice is a tropical plant; yet Carolina and Georgia grow the finest in the world; heavier grained, better filled, and more merchantable, than any imported into Europe from the Indies."
- 2 A twig or stick. Ireland, Scotland, dialectal
"To guard the bank from the impression of the water, a fence, OF STAKE AND RICE, may be made along the bottom of it next the sea, which will last till the surface on that side is sufficiently swarded, and the mound properly consolidated."
- 3 Acronym of rest, ice, compression, elevation (“a treatment method for soft-tissue injuries”). abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
"The care manager greeted Beth and Jim as they prepared to leave, […] and offered to give them brochures about RICE and physical therapy […] After the RICE therapy, Dr. Meredith recommended rehab for strengthening the ankle so that Beth could return to her physical fitness […]"
- 4 grains used as food either unpolished or more often polished wordnet
- 5 A specific variety of this plant. countable
"The rices of Kashmír are infinite in variety. In one tahsíl I have found fifty-three varieties."
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 A bobbin or spool. obsolete
"[…] taken unlawfully from the same house five "machines called 'Engine-Weaving Loomes' worth thirty pounds, and two ounces of silke worth five shillings, and two joynt-stooles worth three shillings, and a pair of 'Rices to wind silke on' worth four shillings […]"
- 7 Acronym of rest, immobilization, cold, elevation (“a treatment method for soft-tissue injuries”). abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
- 8 annual or perennial rhizomatous marsh grasses; seed used for food; straw used for paper wordnet
- 9 The seeds of this plant used as food. uncountable
"Mold boiled rice, when hot, in cups which have been previously dipped in cold water; when cold, turn them out on a flat dish, arranging them uniformly; then with a tea-spoon scoop out a little of the rice from the top of each cone, and put in its place any kind of jelly."
- 10 Acronym of reaction, initial, change, equilibrium (“a tabular system for keeping track of changing concentrations in an equilibrium reaction”). abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
- 11 The types of automobile modifications characteristic of a rice burner. ethnic, humorous, slang, slur, uncountable
- 12 Acronym of reciprocating internal combustion engine. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
- 13 An instance of customization of a user interface. countable, slang, uncountable
"This is my first rice!"
Verb
- 1 To squeeze through a ricer; to mash or make into rice-sized pieces (especially potatoes). transitive
"Riced Potato. Have a flat dish and the colander hot. With a spoon, rub mashed potato through the colander on to the hot dish."
- 2 sieve so that it becomes the consistency of rice wordnet
- 3 To harvest wild rice (Zizania spp.) intransitive
"In northern Minnesota the whites have invented the verb "to rice," and speak of "ricing," i. e., harvesting the crop of wild rice."
- 4 To throw rice at a person (usually at a wedding). rare
"So far as I can make out, the idiotic function of “ricing” English brides and bridegrooms is not twenty years old."
- 5 To customize the user interface of a computer system, e.g. a desktop environment. (derived from rice out) transitive
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname from Welsh [in turn originating as a patronymic]. countable, uncountable
"This past weekend, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach set off a firestorm with his full-page ad in the New York Times accusing National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice of turning a blind eye to the Rwandan genocide when she was on President Bill Clinton’s national security team in the 1990s."
- 2 A number of places in the United States:; A former town in the Rice Valley, San Bernardino County, California. countable, uncountable
- 3 A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Cloud County, Kansas. countable, uncountable
- 4 A number of places in the United States:; A city in Benton County, Minnesota. countable, uncountable
- 5 A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Putnam County, Ohio. countable, uncountable
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Wasco County, Oregon, named after Horace Rice. countable, uncountable
- 7 A number of places in the United States:; A minor city in Navarro County, Texas, named after William Marsh Rice. countable, uncountable
- 8 A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Prince Edward County, Virginia. countable, uncountable
- 9 A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Stevens County, Washington, named after William B. Rice. countable, uncountable
- 10 A number of places in the United States:; A number of townships in the United States, listed under Rice Township. countable, uncountable
Example
"Do you eat rice in your country?"
Common questions
What is a synonym for "rice"?
Common synonyms include: annam, cereal, extrude, grain, grass, grind.
How do you use "rice" in a sentence?
Do you eat rice in your country?
How do you pronounce "rice"?
Pronounced /ɹaɪs/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English rys, from Old French ris, from Old Italian riso, risi, from Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza), from an Eastern Iranian language related to Middle Persian blnc (*brinǰ), Northern Kurdish riz (beyond Euphrates) and Zazaki riz. Theorized to come to Iranian languages from Sanskrit व्रीहि (vrīhi). Prior to Sanskrit, it is speculated to be possibly a borrowing from a Dravidian language (compare Proto-Dravidian *wariñci (“rice”)), or from Austroasiatic languages further east. Alternatively Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza) is said to be from Hebrew אורז (órez), from South Arabian areez ultimately from Old Tamil 𑀅𑀭𑀺𑀘𑀺 (arici). Doublet of arroz.
Etymology 2
From Middle English ris, rys, from Old English hrīs (“branch; twig”), from Proto-Germanic *hrīsą (“bush; twig”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreys- (“to turn; bend; wind; move; shake”). Cognate with Scots reise, rice (“twigs; brushwood”), West Frisian riis, rys, Dutch rijs (“little branch; twig; osier; whip”), German Low German Ries, German Reis (“twig; sprig; shoot”), Swedish ris (“twigs; brush; rod”), Icelandic hrís.
Etymology 3
* As a Welsh surname, borrowed from Welsh Rhys, an Anglicization. Compare Reese, Freese, Price, and Preece. * As an English surname, from Old English hris (“brushwood, shrubbery”). * Also as an English surname, from a nickname through Middle English and Anglo-Norman from French ris (“smile, laughter”). * Also as an occupational English surname, from the noun rice. * As as German surname, Americanized from Reis (“shoot, twig”), related to the Old English word above. Compare Ries.