peanut

1 of 2

noun

pea·​nut ˈpē-(ˌ)nət 

plural peanuts

1

: a low-branching widely cultivated annual herb (Arachis hypogaea) of the legume family with showy yellow flowers having a peduncle which elongates and bends into the soil where the ovary ripens into a pod containing one to three oily edible seeds

also : its seed or seed-containing pod

2

: an insignificant or tiny person

3

peanuts plural : a trifling amount

4

: a pellet made of a low-density lightweight material (such as polystyrene foam or corn starch) that is used especially as packing material

—usually plural

It's all part of the company's mission to be more sustainable. When your paint shows up at your door, you won't find it loaded with polystyrene peanuts.

—Nicole Conway

In the 1800s the acorns were used for packing (like Styrofoam peanuts) and ships would dump them overboard and they'd wash up on shore.

—Rich Eldred

Whenever you get plants in the mail, or other fragile things, they come packed with these foam peanuts.

—Peter Hotton

The bill would also ban the sale of polystyrene loose fill packaging, or packing peanuts.

—Samantha Maldonado

peanut

2 of 2

adjective

: insignificant, petty

peanut politics

Synonyms

Noun

• ace
• bit
• crumb
• dab
• dram
• driblet
• glimmer
• hint
• lick
• little
• mite
• nip
• ounce
• particle
• ray
• scintilla
• scruple
• shade
• shadow
• shred
• skosh
• smack
• smell
• smidgen
• smidgeon
• smidgin
• smidge
• snap
• soupçon
• spark
• spatter
• speck
• splash
• spot
• sprinkling
• strain
• streak
• suspicion
• tad
• touch
• trace

Adjective

• chicken
• de minimis
• footling
• inconsequential
• inconsiderable
• insignificant
• measly
• Mickey Mouse
• minute
• negligible
• niggling
• no-account
• nominal
• paltry
• petty
• picayune
• piddling
• piddly
• piffling
• pimping
• slight
• trifling
• trivial

Examples of peanut in a Sentence

Noun

Five billion dollars is peanuts compared to what the government spends each year.

He works all day for peanuts.

Adjective

this is a peanut matter, and we're fools for wasting time on it

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Just over 20,000 people live in Gaines, a rural county that touts itself as a leader in peanuts, cotton, oil and natural gas. —Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY, 25 Feb. 2025

So this stateside gross isn’t even a cherry on top — maybe a peanut at best. —J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 22 Feb. 2025

The nine leading causes of food allergies in the U.S. are milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. —Kate Gibson, CBS News, 20 Feb. 2025

Every bar has the same base of whole foods: egg whites for protein; dates for sweetness; peanuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, or walnuts; and a touch of sea salt. —Megan Wahn, Bon Appétit, 3 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1802, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1836, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing peanut

• circus peanut
• peanut butter
• peanut gallery
• peanut oil

Rhymes for peanut

• caseinate
• selenate

Kids Definition

peanut

noun

pea·​nut

ˈpē-(ˌ)nət

1

: a plant of the legume family that has yellow flowers and is grown for its underground pods of oily nutlike edible seeds which yield peanut oil or are crushed to make peanut butter

also : this pod or one of the oily edible seeds it contains

2

plural : a very small amount