culinary
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
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!
Vocabulary lists containing culinary
Eat Your Words
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The First Rule of Punk
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With the Fire on High
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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.
But “The Madison” and “America’s Culinary Cup” have potential, and if you’re a cord-cutting sports fan, March Madness will be tempting.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 27, 2026
Salon Food recently spoke with Anthony Caporale, Director of Spirits Education at the Institute of Culinary Education, who shared his favorite ways to turn popular cocktails into elevated mocktails.
From Salon • Jan. 18, 2026
He studied at what is now known as the Institute of Culinary Education in New York, interned at Alps Salami in Queens and apprenticed with butchers in Tuscany.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 24, 2025
The study, "Culinary strategies for improving carotenoid bioaccessibility in kale: The role of thermal processing and excipient emulsions," was published in Food Nutrition.
From Science Daily • Dec. 8, 2025
In 1890, Chicago’s black waiters joined the German-led Culinary Alliance and walked out on strike.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
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.
