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• curry
  curry

  noun

  a pungent dish of vegetables, onions, meat or fish, etc., flavored with various spices or curry powder, and often eaten with rice.
• Curry
  Curry

  noun

  John (Anthony), 1949–94, British figure skater.

curry

¹ American  

[kur-ee, kuhr-ee] / ˈkɜr i, ˈkʌr i /

Sometimes currie

noun

• curries
  plural

1. East Indian Cooking. a pungent dish of vegetables, onions, meat or fish, etc., flavored with various spices or curry powder, and often eaten with rice.

2. any dish flavored with curry powder or the like.

   a lamb curry.

3. curry powder.

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verb (used with object)

curried, currying

1. to cook or flavor (food) with curry powder or a similar combination of spices.

   to curry eggs.

idioms

1. give (someone) a bit of curry, to rebuke, discipline, or criticize; harass.

curry ² American  

[kur-ee, kuhr-ee] / ˈkɜr i, ˈkʌr i /

verb (used with object)

curried, currying

1. to rub and clean (a horse) with a currycomb.

2. to dress (tanned hides) by soaking, scraping, beating, coloring, etc.

3. to beat; thrash.

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idioms

1. curry favor, to seek to advance oneself through flattery or fawning.

   His fellow workers despised him for currying favor with the boss.

Curry ³ American  

[kur-ee, kuhr-ee] / ˈkɜr i, ˈkʌr i /

noun

1. John (Anthony), 1949–94, British figure skater.

2. John Steuart 1897–1946, U.S. painter.

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curry ¹ British  

/ ˈkʌrɪ /

noun

1. a spicy dish of oriental, esp Indian, origin that is made in many ways but usually consists of meat or fish prepared in a hot piquant sauce

2. curry seasoning or sauce

3. slang to assault (a person) verbally or physically

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verb

1. (tr) to prepare (food) with curry powder or sauce

curry ² British  

/ ˈkʌrɪ /

verb

1. to beat vigorously, as in order to clean

2. to dress and finish (leather) after it has been tanned to make it strong, flexible, and waterproof

3. to groom (a horse)

4. to ingratiate oneself, esp with superiors

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Curry ³ British  

/ ˈkʌrɪ /

noun

1. John ( Anthony ). 1949–94, British ice skater: won the figure-skating gold medal in the 1976 Olympic Games

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• curries
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of curry¹

First recorded in 1590–1600, from Tamil kaṟi “sauce, relish”

Origin of curry²

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English curreien, curraien, curry, from Anglo-French curreier, Old French corroier, earlier conreer “to make ready,” from Vulgar Latin conrēdāre (unrecorded); see origin at corody

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Explanation

Curry is a South Asian-style dish of vegetables or meat in a very flavorful, spicy sauce. You can try many types of curry in an Indian restaurant. There are different curries from different parts of Asia — a Thai curry, for example, might consist of shrimp and vegetables in a rich yellow sauce. When curry is a verb, it can mean "make curry," but it's more commonly "groom a horse." A curry comb, in fact, is specially made for this purpose. This curry comes from the Anglo-French curreier, "to comb a horse," while the dish has a Tamil root, kari, "sauce."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

curry Curry curries curried currying

The college has been experimenting in its canteen, external, offering staff and students root-to-tip meals, such as banana skin curry.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

People in prison confess to crimes, regardless of innocence, for any manner of reasons: because they are coerced, because their memories are unclear, to curry favor, for attention.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Dropping tens of thousands of dollars on a watch is a good way to curry favor with sales assistants who allocate Birkins to clients.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

Thai food greeted Navarrete at the office — red curry, fried rice, drunken noodles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

“Sorry to interrupt your dinner—is that curry? It smells great.”

From "A Soft Place to Land" by Janae Marks

For the Warriors, Stephen Curry had 31 points, going 11 for 23 from the field and eight for 14 from deep.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

Before Paul called the property home, stars including Robert Pattinson, Jim Parsons, Noah Wyle, Tim Curry, cinematographer Robert Richardson, and NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had all reportedly lived at the estate.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

Following his star turn at the World Cup, he has 20 million more Instagram followers than Steph Curry and five times as many as Tom Brady.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

He compares getting a call from Sork to being asked for shooting tips from NBA star Stephen Curry.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

He’d cried all the way down Curry Lane.

From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm

A treat for anyone who loves a little wordplay: Can you think of an 11-letter phrase that describes some curries or romances?

From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026

Tomato already knows butter from ghee-rich curries, grilled cheese dipped in tomato soup and Marcella Hazan’s famously spare sauce.

From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026

Smoky, charcoal-grilled meats and fragrant wok-cooked tomato curries sizzling over an open flame.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

"You will see fast food, Indian breads and curries, desserts, and whatever else people have been sending," said Kaanita, a 21-year-old student.

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

Rice, lots of different curries, dal, kebab, poori, paratha, samosa, mango pickle, gulab jamun, and rasmalai.

From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani

"For the next week we just had tuna every day, it was a bit like Forrest Gump and the shrimp, we had curried tuna, fried tuna, battered tuna, beer-battered tuna, raw tuna."

From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026

To push their deal through, the shot-calling Ellisons, Larry and David, have indeed curried favor with Mr. Trump.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

Some say he spent most tea times with New Yorker reporter Emily Hahn, two legends living legendarily, sharing tales over cucumber sandwiches, curried prawns, scones with clotted cream and strong black tea.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2025

Once identified among the intelligentsia as a “reformicon” hoping to shift a neoconservative GOP toward a pro-working-class direction, Salam had long curried liberal affection as “literary Brooklyn’s favorite conservative.”

From Slate ● Sep. 25, 2024

And while some are easily guessed as ginger with peach or curried coconut, others remain delicious mysteries.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

And I’d say that currying the favor of 84% is still pretty darn good.

From Salon ● Mar. 27, 2026

He first fought with the invading Japanese to oust Britain, before swapping sides as the tide of war changed and currying favour with London for the cause of independence.

From Barron's ● Dec. 23, 2025

At the temple, Prapakaran, the software engineer, walked 11 circles around the inner sanctum, part of the ritual for currying favor with the Visa God.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2025

So hacking companies prioritize currying favor over delivering excellence.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 7, 2024

He turned from currying one of the horses and looked at her inquisitively.

From "Ash" by Malinda Lo

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Related Words

• sauce
• seasoning

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