cutlery
Americannoun
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cutting instruments collectively, especially knives for cutting food.
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utensils, as knives, forks, and spoons, used at the table for serving and eating food.
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the trade or business of a cutler.
noun
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implements used for eating, such as knives, forks, and spoons
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instruments used for cutting
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the art or business of a cutler
Etymology
Origin of cutlery
1300–50; Middle English cutellerie < Middle French coutelerie; see cutler, -y 3
Explanation
The spoons, forks, and knives in your kitchen drawer? They're collectively referred to as cutlery, the implements you use when you eat food. Dig in! You can use the noun cutlery for every single kitchen tool you use to serve or prepare food, but it's most commonly used for the ones you put beside your plate when you set the table. Other terms for cutlery include flatware and silverware. As you might guess from the cut within the word, cutlery was originally used only for cutting utensils — knives, in other words.
Vocabulary lists containing cutlery
Pestle, Sieve, and Whisk: Useful Words for Cooking Tools
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The Chocolate Touch
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocabulary for January 7–January 13, 2023
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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.
Karen became so worried about the water she would pack her own cutlery and water jug.
From BBC • Jan. 24, 2026
If you do want to sell your silver items — whether it’s a set of cutlery you inherited from grandma or coins you collected long ago — what do you need to know?
From MarketWatch • Dec. 31, 2025
Cups and cutlery skated across the table in the mess.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025
She then adds square-shaped plates, plain silver cutlery, wine glasses and orange napkins.
From Salon • Nov. 18, 2025
Then came the clinking of cutlery on plates, and the first man spoke again.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
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.
