Meaning of “diet” in the English Dictionary

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"diet" in English

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dietnoun

uk ​ /ˈdaɪ.ət/ us ​ /ˈdaɪ.ət/

B1 [ C or U ] the food and drink usually eaten or drunk by a person or group:

Diet varies between different countries in the world.
a healthy/balanced/varied diet
Rice is the staple diet (= most important food) of many people in China.
The children seem to exist on a diet of fried food.

B1 [ C ] an eating plan in which someone eats less food, or only particular types of food, because they want to become thinner or for medical reasons:

I'm going on a diet next week and hope to lose ten pounds before Christmas.
a crash/strict/calorie-controlled diet
The doctor put me on a low-salt diet to reduce my blood pressure.

› [ S ] a particular type of thing that you experience or do regularly, or a limited range of activities:

He was brought up on a diet of political propaganda from birth.
Network TV only offers a diet of bad reality shows every night.

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Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

dietadjective [ before noun ]

uk ​ /ˈdaɪ.ət/ us ​ /ˈdaɪ.ət/

dietverb [ I ]

uk ​ /ˈdaɪ.ət/ us ​ /ˈdaɪ.ət/

(Definition of “diet” from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

"diet" in American English

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dietnoun [ C/U ]

us ​ /ˈdɑɪ·ɪt/

› the food and drink usually taken by a person or group:

[ C ] A healthy diet includes fresh vegetables.
[ C ] fig. Gifted students given a steady diet of grade-level curriculum learn they don’t need to work hard.

› A diet is also the particular food and drink you are limited to when you cannot eat or drink whatever you want to:

[ C ] a low-salt diet
[ C ] I’m going on a diet because I’ve got to lose some weight.
dietary
adjective us ​ /ˈdɑɪ·ɪˌter·i/

›

Health experts say dietary changes have to start with children, who can be taught to appreciate a healthy diet.

dietverb [ I ]

us ​ /ˈdɑɪ·ɪt/

› to limit the food that you take, esp. in order to lose weight:

He began dieting a month ago and says he has lost ten pounds already.
dieter
noun [ C ] us ​ /ˈdɑɪ·ɪ·t̬ər/

›

Studies show there may be as many as 30 million American dieters at any one moment.

dietadjective [ not gradable ]

us ​ /ˈdɑɪ·ɪt/

› (of food or drink) containing much less sugar than usual and often sweetened artificially, or containing less fat than usual:

diet soda

(Definition of “diet” from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

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