Library / English Dictionary

EDIBLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any substance that can be used as food

Synonyms:

comestible; eatable; edible; pabulum; victual; victuals

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("edible" is a kind of...):

food; nutrient (any substance that can be metabolized by an animal to give energy and build tissue)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "edible"):

tuck (eatables (especially sweets))

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Suitable for use as food

Synonyms:

comestible; eatable; edible

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

killable (fit to kill, especially for food)

non-poisonous; nonpoisonous; nontoxic (safe to eat)

pareve; parve (containing no meat or milk (or their derivatives) and thus eatable with both meat and dairy dishes according to the dietary laws of Judaism)

Also:

digestible (capable of being converted into assimilable condition in the alimentary canal)

palatable; toothsome (acceptable to the taste or mind)

tender (easy to cut or chew)

Antonym:

inedible (not suitable for food)

Derivation:

edibility; edibleness (the property of being fit to eat)

Credits

 Context examples: 

It has been identified in surface and drinking water, ambient air, exhaust emissions, smoke of cigarettes and cigars, and in smoked foods and edible aquatic organisms.

(Anthracene, NCI Thesaurus)

The sweet edible fruit of the date palm with a single long woody seed.

(Date Fruit, NCI Thesaurus)

A solid composed of dry powdered active and/or inert ingredient(s) covered by an edible shell.

(Cachet Dosage Form, NCI Thesaurus)

Edible plants from the family Brassicaceae (also called Cruciferae).

(Cruciferous vegetable, NCI Thesaurus)

The edible oil extracted from the kernel or meat of the coconut of Cocos nucifera.

(Coconut Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

The consumption of edible substances.

(Eat, NCI Thesaurus)

So, it cannot determine if a mushroom is edible.

(New Test Identifies Poisonous Mushrooms, Agricultural Research Service)

For instance, the Springtime Amanita (Amanita velosa) is a highly desirable edible wild mushroom in the Pacific coastal United States.

(New Test Identifies Poisonous Mushrooms, Agricultural Research Service)