noun · 5 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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/ˈsɔ(ɹ).ɡəm/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:S AO1 R G AH0 M
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A cereal, Sorghum genus and species, the grains of which are cultivated to make flour and feed cattle. Almost all cultivated ones as well as some wild ones belong to the species Sorghum bicolor (syn. Sorghum vulgare).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Examples
1936, Harry Nelson Vinall, Joseph Charlworth Stephens, John Holmes Martin, Identification, History, and Distribution of Common Sorghum Varieties, US Department of Agriculture, Technical Bulletin No. 506, page 2, The sorghum crop has four uses — forage, grain, sirup, and industrial (such as the manufacture of brooms, wallboard, etc.).
1978, US Department of Agriculture, Watch out for witchweed, a serious pest of corn, sorghum, and other crops, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Program Number 1212, unnumbered page, Witchweed (Striga spp.) is a parasitic plant that attacks corn, sorghum, sugarcane, rice, and more than 60 different species of the grass family.
2008, Lamissa Diakité, Amadou Sidibé, Melinda Smale, Mikkel Grum, Seed Value Chains for Sorghum and Millet in Mali: A State-based System in Transition, International Food Policy Research Institute, Discussion Paper 00749, page 2, Archaeological evidence suggests that economies based on cattle, goats, sorghum, and pearl millet were established in this region between 5,000 and 3,000 years ago (Smith 1998).
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: millet
2
noun
Meaning 2
Sorghum syrup.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Southern-US, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
made from juice of sweet sorghum
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: sorghum molasses
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: syrup, sirup
4
noun
Meaning 4
annual or perennial tropical and subtropical cereal grasses: sorghum
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: genus Sorghum
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: monocot genus, liliopsid genus
5
noun
Meaning 5
economically important Old World tropical cereal grass
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
From New Latin genus name Sorghum, from Italian sorgo, from Vulgar Latin *syricum (“Syrian”), from Sȳricus. Doublet of the synonyms sorgho (via French) and sorgo (via Italian).
Across languages
Translations
92 source translations are retained for this English entry.
