Meal vs. Repast — What's the Difference?

A meal is an eating occasion that takes place at a certain time and includes prepared food. The names used for specific meals in English vary, depending on the speaker's culture, the time of day, or the size of the meal.

A meal or the food eaten or provided at a meal.

The edible whole or coarsely ground grains of a cereal grass.

To eat or feast.

A granular substance produced by grinding.

To give food to.

The food served and eaten in one sitting.

(countable)

A customary time or occasion of eating food.

A meal.

Correct quotes

(obsolete) A period of refreshment or rest.

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(uncountable)

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(archaic) Food or drink that may be consumed as a meal.

(countable) Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity (as opposed to a snack).

Something that is intellectually or spiritually nourishing.

(countable) Food served or eaten as a repast.

(obsolete) The consumption of food; also, refreshment obtained from eating; (generally) refreshment; rest.

A break taken by a police officer in order to eat.

(transitive)

(obsolete) A time or an occasion.

(archaic) To supply (an animal or person) with food; to feed.

The coarse-ground edible part of various grains often used to feed animals; flour or a coarser blend than flour.

To provide (a person) with intellectual or spiritual nourishment; to enlighten, to feed.

A speck or spot.

To refresh (oneself or someone) through eating and drinking.

A part; a fragment; a portion.

Usually followed by on or upon: to take food and drink; to feast, to feed.

To yield or be plentiful in meal.

The act of taking food.

(transitive) To defile or taint.

That which is taken as food; a meal; figuratively, any refreshment.

A part; a fragment; a portion.

To supply food to; to feast; to take food.

The portion of food taken at a particular time for the satisfaction of appetite; the quantity usually taken at one time with the purpose of satisfying hunger; a repast; the act or time of eating a meal; as, the traveler has not eaten a good meal for a week; there was silence during the meal.

The food served and eaten at one time

Grain (esp. maize, rye, or oats) that is coarsely ground and unbolted; also, a kind of flour made from beans, pease, etc.; sometimes, any flour, esp. if coarse.

Any substance that is coarsely pulverized like meal, but not granulated.

To sprinkle with, or as with, meal.

To pulverize; as, mealed powder.

The food served and eaten at one time

Any of the occasions for eating food that occur by custom or habit at more or less fixed times

Coarsely ground foodstuff; especially seeds of various cereal grasses or pulse