culinary

American  

[kyoo-luh-ner-ee, kuhl-uh-] / ˈkyu ləˌnɛr i, ˈkʌl ə- /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or used in cooking or the kitchen.

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culinary British  

/ ˈkʌlɪnərɪ /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or used in the kitchen or in cookery

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Other Word Forms

• culinarily adverb

Etymology

Origin of culinary

1630–40; < Latin culīnārius of the kitchen, equivalent to culīn ( a ) kitchen, food + -ārius -ary

Explanation

Culinary means having to do with cooking or the kitchen. If you go to culinary school, you're learning how to cook, most likely because you want to work as a chef. If you have a culinary streak, you might love cooking for your friends or maybe just watching cooking shows on TV. If your culinary repertoire includes nothing beyond tuna sandwiches and mac-and-cheese out of the box, you have a lot to learn, culinarily speaking!

Example Sentences

Anna, a culinary school dropout, is drifting from gig to gig, grieving her mother, who was a chef, when she meets Matteo at a hotel bar.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

One afternoon Chris Newens, an English culinary journalist, was sitting in Le Mistral, a bistro in the 20th arrondissement, when he overheard three men discuss the dominant cuisine of the neighborhood.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

Outside of the culinary sphere, tomatoes have also become something of a cultural icon, thanks to a “Tomato Girl” microtrend that took off in summer 2023.

From Salon • Apr. 6, 2026

Three finalists - Luke Emmess, Mark O'Brien and Gareth Baty - made it through a series of culinary challenges, impressing not just judges Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing but also high-profile Michelin-starred restaurateurs.

From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026

The smell of cooking food is often a calming one, and the kitchen grew cozy as the sauce simmered, a culinary term which means “cooked over low heat.”

From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket