cuisine
Americannoun
-
a style or quality of cooking; cookery.
Italian cuisine; This restaurant has an excellent cuisine.
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Archaic. the kitchen or culinary department of a house, hotel, etc.
noun
-
a style or manner of cooking
French cuisine
-
the food prepared by a restaurant, household, etc
Etymology
Origin of cuisine
1475–85; < French: literally, kitchen < Vulgar Latin *cocīna, for Latin coquīna; see kitchen
Explanation
Cuisine is a type of food that is cooked in a specific way based on a culture's ingredients, region, and traditions. If you're craving cannoli, a visit to Chinatown doesn't make much sense, since cheese is more characteristic of Italian cuisine. Boiling an egg or flipping burgers on the grill is cooking. But if you want to create cuisine, you need to understand how to prepare the culinary specialties of a particular country or culture. To make Italian cuisine, for example, you'll need to chop garlic, roll out pasta dough, and simmer pots of tomato sauce. When the word "fine" is attached to cuisine, it describes the food at a fancy restaurant that will part you with a good portion of your money.
Vocabulary lists containing cuisine
Eat Your Words
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Passover Vocabulary
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Mardi Gras: Food
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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.
Some of the vendors we sampled last year, including Sandoitchi and Farmhouse Kitchen Thai Cuisine, are back at Indio Central Market.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026
“I grew up in Gemanafushi, where fishing is not just a livelihood but a way of life,” says Abdulla “Rippe” Rifzan, Chef de Cuisine at Patina Maldives.
From Salon • Dec. 27, 2025
Empire Cuisine & Market, a small halal grocery in Shakopee, Minn., claimed to be feeding thousands of children daily.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 5, 2025
In the same range, Tesco cottage pie had 18% beef, whereas Aldi Inspired Cuisine Cottage Pie had 25%.
From BBC • Sep. 23, 2024
The restaurant, called Haedanghwa Korean Cuisine, was hectic and Shin worked long hours, washing dishes and cleaning tables.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
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.
