taste

[ teyst ]
See synonyms for: tastetastedtasting on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),tast·ed, tast·ing.
  1. to try or test the flavor or quality of (something) by taking some into the mouth: to taste food.

  2. to eat or drink a little of: She barely tasted her dinner.

  1. to eat or drink (often used in negative constructions): He hadn't tasted food for three days.

  2. to perceive or distinguish the flavor of: to taste the wine in a sauce.

  3. to have or get experience, especially a slight experience: these young men who had only begun to taste life.

  4. to perceive in any way.

  5. Archaic. to enjoy or appreciate.

  6. Obsolete.

    • to examine by touch; feel.

    • to test or try.

verb (used without object),tast·ed, tast·ing.
  1. to try the flavor or quality of something.

  2. to eat or drink a little (usually followed by of): She tasted of the cake.

  1. to perceive or distinguish the flavor of anything.

  2. to have experience of something, however limited or slight.

  3. to have a particular flavor (often followed by of): The coffee tastes bitter. The bread tastes of mold.

  4. to smack or savor (usually followed by of): The story tastes of treason.

noun
  1. the act of tasting food or drink.

  2. the sense by which the flavor or savor of things is perceived when they are brought into contact with the tongue.

  1. the sensation or quality as perceived by this sense; flavor.

  2. a small quantity tasted; a morsel, bit, or sip.

  3. a relish, liking, or partiality for something: a taste for music.

  4. the sense of what is fitting, harmonious, or beautiful; the perception and enjoyment of what constitutes excellence in the fine arts, literature, fashion, etc.

  5. the sense of what is seemly, polite, tactful, etc., to say or do in a given social situation.

  6. one's personal attitude or reaction toward an aesthetic phenomenon or social situation, regarded as either good or bad.

  7. the ideas of aesthetic excellence or of aesthetically valid forms prevailing in a culture or personal to an individual: a sample of Victorian taste; I consulted only my own taste in decorating this room.

  8. the formal idiom preferred by a certain artist or culture; style; manner: a façade in the Baroque taste.

  9. a slight experience or a sample of something: a taste of adventure.

  10. a feeling or sensation resulting from an experience: a compromise that left a bad taste in her mouth.

  11. Obsolete. test or trial.

Idioms about taste

  1. taste blood. blood (def. 24).

  2. to one's taste, agreeable or pleasing to one: He couldn't find any ties that were completely to his taste.

Origin of taste

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; (verb) Middle English tasten “to touch, taste,” from Old French taster “to touch, explore by touching” (Middle French: “to touch, taste”); cognate with Italian tastare, Provençal, Old Spanish tastar, of uncertain origin; (noun) Middle English tast “sense of touch, a trying, tasting,” from Old French, derivative of taster

synonym study For taste

17. Taste, flavor, savor refer to a quality that is perceived when a substance is placed upon the tongue. Taste is the general word: the taste of roast beef. Flavor is a characteristic taste, usually of a pleasing kind, and as of some ingredient put into the food: lemon flavor. Savor, much less common than taste or flavor, implies pleasing scent as well as taste or flavor, and connotes enjoyment in tasting: The sauce has an excellent savor.

word story For taste

The English noun taste (Middle English tast ) is derived from the Middle English verb tasten “to taste (food, medicine), perceive a flavor, palpate or feel (a patient), experience or feel something (also referring to sexual feeling), test someone or something, attempt.”
Tasten was borrowed from Old French taster “to touch, try,” from an unrecorded Vulgar Latin verb tastāre (or taxtāre or taxitāre ), which is most likely an alteration of a frequentative verb formed from tangere “to touch, tap, taste (food), lay hands on, affect (with emotion), seize, defraud.” (A frequentative verb is one that expresses repetition of an action).
Though the meaning “to try or examine by touch; to feel” is now obsolete, the current figurative meaning “to have a slight experience of something” has developed from that literal use. And of course the primary meaning “to try the flavor of something” is merely referring to another one of our five senses that is stimulated by food taken into the mouth.

Other words for taste

Opposites for taste

Other words from taste

  • tast·a·ble, taste·a·ble, adjective
  • pre·taste, noun, verb (used with object), pre·tast·ed, pre·tast·ing.
  • re·taste, verb, re·tast·ed, re·tast·ing.
  • un·tast·a·ble, adjective
  • un·taste·a·ble, adjective
  • un·tast·ed, adjective
  • un·tast·ing, adjective

Words Nearby taste

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use taste in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for taste

taste

/ (teɪst) /


noun
  1. the sense by which the qualities and flavour of a substance are distinguished by the taste buds

  2. the sensation experienced by means of the taste buds

  1. the act of tasting

  2. a small amount eaten, drunk, or tried on the tongue

  3. a brief experience of something: a taste of the whip

  4. a preference or liking for something; inclination: to have a taste for danger

  5. the ability to make discerning judgments about aesthetic, artistic, and intellectual matters; discrimination: to have taste

  6. judgment of aesthetic or social matters according to a generally accepted standard: bad taste

  7. discretion; delicacy: that remark lacks taste

  8. obsolete the act of testing

verb
  1. to distinguish the taste of (a substance) by means of the taste buds

  2. (usually tr) to take a small amount of (a food, liquid, etc) into the mouth, esp in order to test the quality: to taste the wine

  1. (often foll by of) to have a specific flavour or taste: the tea tastes of soap; this apple tastes sour

  2. (when intr, usually foll by of) to have an experience of (something): to taste success

  3. (tr) an archaic word for enjoy

  4. (tr) obsolete to test by touching

Origin of taste

1
C13: from Old French taster, ultimately from Latin taxāre to appraise

Derived forms of taste

  • tastable, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with taste

taste

see acquired taste; dose (taste) of one's own medicine; leave a bad taste in one's mouth; no accounting for tastes; poor taste.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.