calorie
- 01 B1 Intermediate
a unit that measures the energy you get from food and drink.
the 'large calorie' or kilocalorie (kcal), used to measure the energy content of food and the energy expended through physical activity.
Simple“The label on the back of the juice bottle shows the number of calories per serving.”
In context“Nutritionists recommend that the average adult male requires approximately two thousand five hundred calories a day to maintain a healthy weight.”
UsageIn everyday speech and on food labels, 'calorie' almost always refers to the kilocalorie (1,000 small calories).
Synonymskilocaloriekcal - 02 C1 Advanced
a small unit of energy used in science, equal to the heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree.
the 'small calorie' (cal), defined as the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.
Simple“In the science experiment, we measured how many calories of heat the burner produced.”
In context“While the joule is the standard SI unit of energy, the calorie remains a common reference in older thermodynamic literature and specific chemical calculations.”
UsageUsually written as 'cal' in lowercase to distinguish it from the nutritional 'Cal' or 'kcal'.
Synonymsgram calorie