What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Food vs Mat - What's the difference?

food | mat |

As a noun food

is (uncountable) any substance that can be consumed by living organisms, especially by eating, in order to sustain life.

food

English

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (uncountable) Any substance that can be consumed by living organisms, especially by eating, in order to sustain life.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
      Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= A punch in the gut , passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}
  • (countable) A foodstuff.
  • (uncountable, figuratively) Anything that nourishes or sustains.
  • Mozart and Bach are food for my soul.
  • * (and other bibiographic particulars) (William Shakespeare)
  • This may prove food to my displeasure.
  • * (and other bibiographic particulars) (William Wordsworth)
  • In this moment there is life and food / For future years.

    Usage notes

    * Adjectives often applied to "food": raw, cooked, baked, fried, grilled, processed, healthy, unhealthy, wholesome, nutritious, safe, toxic, tainted, adulterated, tasty, delicious, fresh, stale, sweet, sour, spicy, exotic, marine.

    Synonyms

    * (substance consumed by living organisms) bellytimber, chow (slang), comestible (formal), eats (slang), feed (for domesticated animals), fodder (for domesticated animals), foodstuffs, nosh (slang), nourishment, sustenance, victuals * (anything intended to supply energy or nourishment of an entity or idea) brainfood * (foodstuff) bellytimber, foodstuff

    Derived terms

    * cat food * comfort food * dog food * fast food * food bank * food chain * food fight * food for thought * food pyramid * food stamp * foodstuff * foody * health food * junk food * rabbit food * seafood * soul food * whole food

    See also

    * breakfast * brunch * dinner * dunch * lunch, luncheon * meal * supper *

    Statistics

    *

    mat

    English

    (wikipedia mat)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), from ).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A flat piece of coarse material used for wiping one’s feet, or as a decorative or protective floor covering.
  • Wipe your feet on the mat before coming in.
  • A small flat piece of material used to protect a surface from anything hot or rough; a coaster.
  • They put mats on the table during mealtimes.
  • (athletics) A floor pad to protect athletes.
  • The high jumper cleared the bar and landed safely on the mat .
  • A thickly tangled mess.
  • a mat''' of hair; a '''mat of weeds
  • A thick paper or paperboard border used to inset and center the contents of a frame.
  • the mat of a daguerreotype
  • A thin layer of woven, non-woven, or knitted fiber that serves as reinforcement to a material.
  • (gaming) A material or component needed for a crafting recipe
  • To make a luck potion, you need several rare herbs as mats .
    Derived terms
    * crash mat * doormat * mat slab * place mat * welcome mat

    Verb

    (matt)
  • To cover, protect or decorate with mats.
  • (Evelyn)
  • To form a thick, tangled mess; to interweave into, or like, a mat; to entangle.
  • * Dryden
  • And o'er his eyebrows hung his matted hair.

    Etymology 2

    Compare (m).

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Noun

  • (coppersmithing) An alloy of copper, tin, iron, etc.; white metal.
  • Anagrams

    * (l), (l), (l), (l), (l), (l) ----