{
    "term": "grain",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "b1",
    "image": "data/images/ce/cereals.png",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "the small hard seeds of food plants such as wheat, rice, etc.; a single seed of such a plant",
            "sensetop": "grain of something",
            "cefr": "b1",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Brazil sold 212 million tons of grain abroad last year."
                },
                {
                    "text": "America’s grain exports"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The journal reports that eating **whole grains** protects against diabetes."
                },
                {
                    "text": "a few grains of rice",
                    "contextForm": "grain of something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Grain production has been falling in recent years."
                },
                {
                    "text": "There were just a few grains of corn left."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The government intends to import only five per cent of the country's grain."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The peasants had ceased to sow grain."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Farming", "Food"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["large", "small", "whole"],
                "verb + grain": ["grow", "produce", "store"],
                "grain + noun": ["harvest", "production", "yield"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "a small hard piece of particular substances",
            "sensetop": "grain (of something)",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a grain of salt/sand/sugar"
                },
                {
                    "text": "I got a grain of sand in my eye."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "a very small amount",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "There isn't **a grain of truth** in those rumours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "If he had a grain of sensitivity he wouldn't have asked her about her divorce."
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "iota"
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 4,
            "definition": "a small unit of weight, equal to 0.00143 of a pound or 0.0648 of a gram, used for example for weighing medicines",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The analysis showed a few grains of arsenic in the solution."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 5,
            "definition": "the natural direction of lines in wood, cloth, etc. or of layers of rock; the pattern of lines that you can see",
            "sensetop": "along/across the grain",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "to cut a piece of wood along/across the grain",
                    "contextForm": "along/across the grain"
                },
                {
                    "text": "This wood has a beautiful natural grain."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["fine", "smooth", "coarse"],
                "preposition": [
                    "across the grain",
                    "against the grain",
                    "along the grain"
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 6,
            "definition": "how rough or smooth a surface feels",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "wood of **coarse/fine grain**"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to be or do something different from what is normal or natural",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "It really goes against the grain to have to work on a Sunday."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "used to warn somebody not to believe something completely",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "If I were you, I'd take everything he says with a grain of salt."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ɡreɪn/",
                "audio": "gr/grain/grain__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ɡreɪn/",
                "audio": "gr/grain/grain__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Middle English (originally in the sense ‘seed, grain of corn’): from Old French grain, from Latin granum."
}