ˈpabyələm noun
( -s )
Etymology: Latin, food, fodder — more at food
1. archaic : fuel for fire
2. : a material taken in by a living organism for use in its metabolism as a source of energy or growth : food , nutrient ; usually : a more or less fluid medium containing dissolved or suspended nutritive elements in a state suitable for absorption (as through the roots of a plant or into a bacterial cell or a body organ)
3.
a. : nourishment for the development of mind or character : intellectual sustenance
no two generations need the same mental and emotional pabulum — Bonamy Dobrée
no idea, however freighted with pabulum for the brain, is alien … to poetry — J.L.Lowes
especially : a rudimentary or insipid piece of writing
the kind of sentimental pabulum which it offered its readers — Publ's Mod. Lang. Association of American
b. : source material for a discussion or document : grist
never provided that flow of newspaper articles or of interviews which afford pabulum to the contemporary biographer — Times Literary Supplement