stew
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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stews,
present (3rd person singular)
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stewed,
past participle, past
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stewing
present participle
verb (used without object)
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stews,
present (3rd person singular)
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stewed,
past participle, past
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stewing
present participle
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to undergo cooking by simmering or slow boiling.
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Informal. to fret, worry, or fuss.
He stewed about his chaotic state of affairs all day.
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to feel uncomfortable due to a hot, humid, stuffy atmosphere, as in a closed room; swelter.
noun
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a preparation of meat, fish, or other food cooked by stewing, especially a mixture of meat and vegetables.
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Informal. a state of agitation, uneasiness, or worry.
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a brothel; whorehouse.
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stews, a neighborhood occupied chiefly by brothels.
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Obsolete. a vessel for boiling or stewing.
idioms
noun
noun
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a dish of meat, fish, or other food, cooked by stewing
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( as modifier )
stew pot
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informal a difficult or worrying situation or a troubled state (esp in the phrase in a stew )
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a heterogeneous mixture
a stew of people of every race
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archaic (usually plural) a brothel
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obsolete a public room for hot steam baths
verb
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to cook or cause to cook by long slow simmering
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informal (intr) to be troubled or agitated
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informal (intr) to be oppressed with heat or crowding
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to cause (tea) to become bitter or (of tea) to become bitter through infusing for too long
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to suffer unaided the consequences of one's actions
noun
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a fishpond or fishtank
-
an artificial oyster bed
Synonym Usage
See boil 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stewsimple
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stewssimple
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have stewedperfect
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has stewedperfect
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am stewingprogressive
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are stewingprogressive
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is stewingprogressive
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have been stewingperfect progressive
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has been stewingperfect progressive
Past
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stewedsimple
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had stewedperfect
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was stewingprogressive
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were stewingprogressive
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had been stewingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stew1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English steuen, stuwe “to take a sweat bath,” from Middle French estuver, verbal derivative of estuve “sweat room of a bath”; see origin at stove 1
Origin of stew2
An Americanism dating back to 1970–1975; shortening of steward ( def. ) or stewardess ( def. )
Explanation
To stew is to slowly cook food, which results in a soup-like food called a stew. To stew also means to brood angrily. If you cook something slowly, like beef or vegetables, you stew it. The result of stewing is also called stew, which is usually chunky, like a thick soup. People can stew in another way when it comes to emotions. If your sister sits and worries about something, she stews. The root of stew is the Old French estuver, "bathe or stew." Back in the fourteenth century, stew was also a slang word meaning "brothel or bath house."
Vocabulary lists containing stew
Blanch, Poach, and Scald: Cooking Methods
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As Brave as You
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"Familiar Places"
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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.
See Examples For:
By naming the product of two mergers Skydance, David Ellison relegates two of Hollywood’s founding studios to a sub-brand stew and attempts to erase a bunch of controversial hires.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
"For us Hungarians, paprika is a wonder," one of the competitors, local fast-food restaurant owner Imre Zseni said, while stirring a beef stew.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
Friends stew about rising costs, but I’m not feeling it much.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
With the extended international break coming up, they have three weeks to stew on this latest defeat.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
I thought of the shreds of gray stringy beef floating in the stew, and I wanted to retch.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
When dried and salted, guitarfish is used in soups and stews across Ghana.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
In Burbank, family-run Tun Lahmajo delves into Armenian homestyle dishes, including flatbreads, cold salads, roasted meats, a range of soups and herbed stews.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
Social-media creators have documented their own perpetual stews with names like “Stewtheus” and “Soupina.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
He says he cooks chillis and stews to take to work, avoids impulse purchases and tries to keep spending on a night out below £20.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026
In March, Etienne turns sixty and Madame Manec stews little clams—palourd.es—with shallots and serves them alongside mushrooms and quarters of two hard-boiled eggs: the only two eggs, she reports, she could find in the city.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Beloved for its mildly sweet, nutty flavour and velvety texture, it later evolved into a party food, consumed as a jam or stewed with sticky rice balls in coconut milk.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
"We have jerk pork, we have rice and peas, we have jerk chicken, curry goat, stewed chicken, fried dumpling and plantain," she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
In 2022, during Roach’s 23-win run, many viewers stewed over the champ’s chatty asides and mannerisms, especially Roach’s way of talking with their hands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
Newsom climbed from San Francisco mayor to lieutenant governor to California’s governorship, where he quietly stewed as Harris leapfrogged past him into the vice presidency.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026
Servants set down dishes—roasted goose shining with currant glaze, oysters and stewed ramps, acorn cakes and whole fish stuffed with rose hips.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
I considered basting the tomatoes in butter and stewing them down with miso until soft and glossy.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
Scurries, the high-school band director, was stewing over the data center in January.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Authorities allege in their brief that he was stewing over being in the neighborhood of his ex-lover and listening to a French rap song that evoked images of fire in its music video.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2026
"I wrote it on Monday because I'd been stewing in anger about ICE," Terrell posted on Instagram, adding he was stunned by the reception it received.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
People called out to me, but I ignored everyone, lost in my own angry bubble as I sat there stewing.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
