roast

American  

[rohst] / roʊst /

verb (used with object)

1. to bake (meat or other food) uncovered, especially in an oven.

2. to cook (meat or other food) by direct exposure to dry heat, as on a spit.

3. to brown, dry, or parch by exposure to heat, as coffee beans.

4. to cook or heat by embedding in hot coals, embers, etc..

   to roast chestnuts.

5. to heat excessively.

   The summer sun has been roasting the entire countryside.

6. Metallurgy. to heat (ore or the like) in air in order to oxidize it.

7. to warm at a hot fire.

   She roasted her hands over the fire.

8. Informal. to ridicule or criticize severely or mercilessly.

9. to honor with or subject to a roast.

   Friends roasted the star at a charity dinner.

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verb (used without object)

1. to roast meat or other food.

2. to undergo the process of becoming roasted.

noun

1. roasted meat or a piece of roasted meat, as a piece of beef or veal of a quantity and shape for slicing into more than one portion.

2. a piece of meat for roasting.

3. something that is roasted.

4. the act or process of roasting.

5. Informal. severe criticism.

6. a facetious ceremonial tribute, usually concluding a banquet, in which the guest of honor is both praised and good-naturedly insulted in a succession of speeches by friends and acquaintances.

7. an outdoor get-together, as a picnic or barbecue, at which food is roasted and eaten.

   a weenie roast.

adjective

1. roasted.

   roast beef.

roast British  

/ rəʊst /

verb

1. to cook (meat or other food) by dry heat, usually with added fat and esp in an oven

2. to brown or dry (coffee, etc) by exposure to heat

3. metallurgy to heat (an ore) in order to produce a concentrate that is easier to smelt

4. to heat (oneself or something) to an extreme degree, as when sunbathing, sitting before the fire, etc

5. (intr) to be excessively and uncomfortably hot

6. informal to criticize severely

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noun

1. something that has been roasted, esp meat

Other Word Forms

• half-roasted adjective
• overroast verb
• roastable adjective
• underroast verb (used with object)
• unroasted adjective
• well-roasted adjective

Etymology

Origin of roast

1250–1300; Middle English rosten (v.) < Old French rostir < Germanic; compare Dutch roosten, German rösten

Explanation

Roast a turkey by cooking it in the oven. Roast a friend by calling her a turkey on her birthday. To roast can mean to cook, or to poke fun of someone as a way of honoring them. In cooking, slow, dry heat is used to roast things. When a cook roasts a piece of meat, you can call the meat itself a roast too. Another way to use this word is to mean “to make fun of someone,” like a toast but meaner and funnier. Comedians are known to roast each other, telling one joke after another mocking the person they're celebrating. This comes from an eighteenth century use of roast to mean "an unmerciful bantering."

Example Sentences

Average U.S. retail price of a pound of roast coffee, up over 120% from $4.17 in January 2020.

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

"I do a really nice roast chicken. I love doing a spread of tacos and salads… but the best hangover cure's a proper English breakfast. That'll get me right in the morning."

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026

There was an open bar, a roast beef carving station and trays of appetizers passed around a restaurant located on a Dallas Cowboys themed golf course.

From Slate • Mar. 30, 2026

But Sokolov and Litvak leave these few real-world thematic threads dangling as they have bigger fish to fry — or pigs to roast.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

Will she launch into a Comedy Central–style roast session where she talks about my suitcase, my messy room, and the stack of dishes in the sink?

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer