oven
Americannoun
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ovens
plural
noun
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an enclosed heated compartment or receptacle for baking or roasting food
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a similar device, usually lined with a refractory material, used for drying substances, firing ceramics, heat-treating, etc
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of oven
before 900; Middle English; Old English ofen; cognate with German Ofen, Old Norse ofn
Explanation
An oven is a device for baking food using heat. You probably scramble eggs on your stove but bake cupcakes in your oven. Most ovens are in kitchens, whether in private homes or restaurants. Every once in a while, you'll see an outdoor bread or pizza oven too — these are built of brick, stone, or clay, and can safely get hot enough to bake at very high temperatures. Another kind of oven is one that's used for baking ceramics, which is also called a kiln or sometimes a furnace. The very oldest ovens were built thousands of years ago in Central and Eastern Europe.
Vocabulary lists containing oven
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.
See Examples For:
Before a first-grade production of “Hansel and Gretel,” for example, parents are assured that Gretel would not be pushing the witch into an oven but instead will hold “a generative dialogue” about loneliness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
I knew the bread would be toasted in the oven, where its entire surface could become evenly crisp rather than merely acquire a few handsome skillet stripes.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
The fan acts as a convection oven, an appliance that circulates hot air in order to cook food quickly and evenly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Within moments of the series’ opening, she’s sliding a pie in the oven and futzing over tiny tarts and meringue kisses to photograph for her Hungry with Hollis followers.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
Naomi puts on an oven mitt and opens the oven door.
From "Zara’s Rules for Record-Breaking Fun" by Hena Khan
Working in food, my office is quite literally the kitchen: I write at a repurposed steel prep table, with my laptop on top and Dutch ovens stored below, that sits directly beside the stove.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
Aura makes heating equipment that is built into bigger industrial machines, such as presses, ovens and extruders—which make everything from plastic bags and window frames to car parts and snacks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
Inside, the joints feature coal- or wood-fired ovens; pizzaioli, like priests, ritually pass their hands over the pies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
"We were using 300 kilos of wood a week, now it's about 450-600 kilos," he said, explaining that they had turned off the gas burners that help the ovens retain heat.
From Barron's ● Mar. 12, 2026
In the middle of the open hall, there are a few brick ovens and one long table but no chairs or benches.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
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.
