noun
gruel
GROO-uhl
noun
1
A thin, watery porridge, historically associated with poverty or illness.
"The orphans were fed nothing but thin gruel each morning."
How to Use Gruel
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA watery, bland porridge, often used to suggest meager or miserable food.
Common pairings
thin gruel
a bowl of gruel
Word Forms
grueled past tense, gruelled past tense, gruels plural, gruels singular
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Etymology
From Old French gruel, meaning coarse meal, ultimately from a Germanic word for ground grain, related to English groats and grit.