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grocery list

grocery list

12 1.0
A written or mental list of food and other items to buy at the store
  • noun
  • /ˈɡroʊsəri lɪst/
  • US
: lista de la compra
  • Before going to the grocery store, she wrote a detailed grocery list to ensure she wouldn't forget anything.

I'm like going through my head grocery list, sunglasses, keys.

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Examples

  • Don't forget the grocery list.

  • Some people live in a world of calendars and grocery lists and carpools.

  • Uh, did you get my grocery list?

  • Is the grocery list ready?

  • This is your grocery list and your dry cleaning.

  • Get this grocery list to Phil and deliver it to my house.

  • The next morning, Mom handed him a grocery list for after school.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • On Tuesday afternoon, I gather up the bills to be paid, my grocery list, and my laundry bag.

    Blog text (12)
  • For example, during make-believe play, children write down a grocery list just as they have seen adults do.

    Academic text (2008)
  • We have a large chalkboard in our laundry room that everyone writes the grocery list on.

    Blog text (27)

Synonyms

list
vsgrocery list
∞ 1.0

An ordered set of names or things for reference

is limited to things to buy rather than any ordered series
shopping list
vsgrocery list
21 1.0

A list of things to buy

is aimed at items for the food store rather than general purchases

Surface Forms

grocery list singular
grocery lists plural

Morphology

grocery + list

The noun–noun compound combines 'grocery' (items to buy at a food/household store) with 'list' (a recorded sequence), so the meaning 'a list of items to be bought' is directly derivable from the constituents. This compositional, cross-linguistically common pattern (compound specifying the type of list) is predictable for a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Grocery list comes from a simple picture: before going to the food shop, a person writes down the things they need, with grocery meaning the shop for food and list meaning a written group of items. So, grocery list means 'a note of items to buy at the store'.