cooking
Americannoun
-
the act of a person or thing that cooks.
-
the art or practice of preparing food; cookery.
adjective
-
used in preparing foods.
All of my cooking utensils are packed, so I had to order pizza.
-
suited for use in cooked food.
The Golden Delicious is our favorite cooking apple, especially for applesauce.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of cooking
First recorded in 1635–45; cook 1 + -ing 1 for the noun senses; cook 1 + -ing 2 for the adjective senses
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.
Cooking one more night a week could result in you having a bit more wiggle room in your “fun” budget.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 27, 2026
Cooking has become difficult, she says, because rain has made the ground wet and rats move through the debris.
From BBC • Feb. 2, 2026
Cooking is slow not for romance, but because it has to be.
From Salon • Jan. 24, 2026
Cooking the fish “en papillote” makes for a showy presentation, but is actually a breeze to do.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 24, 2026
Cooking killed germs and parasites that infested food.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
