butter
Americannoun
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the fatty portion of milk, separating as a soft whitish or yellowish solid when milk or cream is agitated or churned.
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this substance, processed for cooking and table use.
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any of various other soft spreads for bread.
apple butter; peanut butter.
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any of various substances of butterlike consistency, as various metallic chlorides, and certain vegetable oils solid at ordinary temperatures.
verb (used with object)
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to put butter on or in; spread or grease with butter.
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to apply a liquefied bonding material to (a piece or area), as mortar to a course of bricks.
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Metalworking. to cover (edges to be welded together) with a preliminary surface of the weld metal.
verb phrase
noun
-
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an edible fatty whitish-yellow solid made from cream by churning, for cooking and table use
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( as modifier )
butter icing
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any substance with a butter-like consistency, such as peanut butter or vegetable butter
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to look innocent, although probably not so
verb
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to put butter on or in
-
to flatter
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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buttersimple
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butterssimple
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have butteredperfect
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has butteredperfect
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am butteringprogressive
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are butteringprogressive
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is butteringprogressive
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have been butteringperfect progressive
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has been butteringperfect progressive
Past
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butteredsimple
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had butteredperfect
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was butteringprogressive
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were butteringprogressive
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had been butteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of butter
before 1000; Middle English; Old English butere < Latin būtȳrum < Greek boútȳron
Explanation
Butter is a creamy spread made from milk fat. Your favorite breakfast might be hot toast slathered with butter. The process of making butter involves churning cream until the fats coagulate and become creamy and pale yellow. Butter is sometimes salted, and usually formed into sticks for cooks to use in frying, baking, and spreading on corn on the cob and baked goods. To do this is to butter your bread. The Greek root word is boutyron, literally "cow cheese," from bous, "cow."
Vocabulary lists containing butter
Yellow
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The brand’s traditional bread and butter is performance running.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Once, he said, workers gave him a peanut butter sandwich instead, and the other time they had to go off-site to get another meal from their food provider.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
"They like green beans but not by themselves, so we just fry them in a little bit of butter and dip in breadcrumbs. The same with cauliflower and lots of other vegetables," she says.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
If you prefer a warmer snack, simply pan-sear the butter-stuffed dates in more butter, or pop them in the microwave for six to eight seconds.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
I could feel the breeze her body made on my face, and I could smell peanut butter and summer flowers.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
She writes his speeches, manages his appointments and butters up an important colleague with the gift of a ceramic pig.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Pistachio cold foam now perches atop iced coffees from nationwide chains, Dubai chocolate knock-offs sit at every grocery checkout stand and boutique patisseries fill croissants with pistachio butters and creams.
From Salon ● May 6, 2026
Tahini has a kind of quiet luxury to it — less sweet than nut butters, less showy, with a soft, earthy depth that can tip, just slightly, into bitterness in a way that feels intentional.
From Salon ● Mar. 25, 2026
Influencers fill aisles in search of trendy nut butters and overpriced salads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
“I can’t figure why you’d want to paint the cabinets, but whatever butters your biscuit.”
From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry
Zoo officials made the announcement in a recent Instagram post that included a video of the little mammals known for their distinct scent of buttered popcorn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
Often smeared on hot buttered toast, it tastes like a fishy, peppery paté, befitting the mock Latin name Osborn gave to it, Patum Peperium.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
Chicken tenders, buttered noodles, the multi-billion dollar industries of American fast food and ultra-processed snack foods have created a category that didn’t necessarily need to exist.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026
A standard feature is the halo, a clearly defined sphere that sits like a buttered bonnet on the head of the saint.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
I close my eyes real tight-like and picture the spread her mom’s made: chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes with gravy, and buttered corn, all with a side of love.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
“It felt a little bit like he was buttering us up,” Brockman testified.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026
Before Musk decided to exit OpenAI, Brockman described his attempts to gain more control over the company, an effort that included "buttering up" Brockman and another co-founder, Ilya Sutskever.
From BBC ● May 5, 2026
Besides, Colby has long displayed a knack for buttering up his superiors.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2025
Maybe standing up for Wilson will earn Sutton a few more targets, and if that’s the case, perhaps rookie Marvin Mims Jr. should try buttering him up, too.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 17, 2023
I knew and they knew he was saying we got to remember which side our bread is buttered on down at the store, and who is buttering it.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
