noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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Received-Pronunciation:/ˈpabjʊləm/
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈpabjələm/
General-American:/ˈpæbjʊləm/
General-American:/ˈpæbjələm/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
1
noun
Meaning 1
Food or fodder, particularly that taken in by plants or animals.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Material that feeds a fire.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: fuel
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
Food for thought.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, figuratively, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
Bland intellectual fare; an undemanding diet of words.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, figuratively, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: pablum, pap
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
insipid intellectual nourishment
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: food, food for thought, intellectual nourishment
6
noun
Meaning 6
any substance that can be used as food
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Borrowed from Latin pābulum (“food, nourishment; fodder or pasture for animals; nourishment for the mind, food for thought”), from pā(scō) (“to nourish”) + -bulum (suffix denoting an instrument), or directly from Proto-Indo-European *peh2-dhlom (*peh2- (“to protect, shepherd”) + *-dhlom, variant of *-trom (suffix denoting a tool or instrument)).
Across languages
Translations
6 source translations are retained for this English entry.