heavy meal

Meaning

A 'heavy meal' refers to food that is very filling, rich, and often high in calories, fat, or carbohydrates. It usually makes you feel full, satisfied, or even sleepy after eating it. People often avoid heavy meals right before exercising or going to bed.

Examples

• I shouldn't have eaten such a heavy meal right before my workout.

  I shouldn't have eaten such a heavy meal right before my workout.

• After a heavy meal of steak and potatoes, all I wanted to do was take a nap.

  After a heavy meal of steak and potatoes, all I wanted to do was take a nap.

• Let's avoid a heavy meal for lunch so we don't feel sleepy during the meeting.

  Let's avoid a heavy meal for lunch so we don't feel sleepy during the meeting.

• Is lasagna considered a heavy meal?

  Is lasagna considered a heavy meal?

• They served a surprisingly heavy meal for a summer afternoon.

  They served a surprisingly heavy meal for a summer afternoon.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ I had a weight meal for dinner.

  ✓ I had a heavy meal for dinner.

  'Weight' is a noun. The correct collocation for filling food is 'heavy meal'.

• ✗ That was a very hard meal to digest.

  ✓ That was a very heavy meal.

  While heavy meals are hard to digest, native speakers specifically use 'heavy meal' to describe rich, filling food.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Eating a ___ right before going to sleep can cause indigestion.

  💡 A large, rich, or filling dinner.

  Show answer

  heavy meal

• I prefer a salad for lunch because a ___ makes me feel too tired to work.

  💡 Food that is very filling and rich.

  Show answer

  heavy meal