tasty
Americanadjective
-
tastier,
comparative
-
tastiest
superlative
-
good-tasting; savory.
a tasty canapé.
- Synonyms:
- appetizing, toothsome, delectable, delicious
adjective
-
having a pleasant flavour
-
informal attractive: used chiefly by men when talking of women
-
informal skilful or impressive
she was a bit tasty with a cutlass
-
(of cheddar cheese) having a strong flavour
Synonym Usage
See palatable.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of tasty
Explanation
Things that taste great are tasty. You could describe your favorite foods, from doughnuts to baked ziti, as tasty. While tasty basically means the same thing as yummy or flavorful, it implies a less serious compliment than the word delicious, for example. Potato chips are tasty, and so are grilled cheese sandwiches and soft serve ice cream cones. They're pleasant and appetizing, but not necessarily the most amazing food you've ever eaten. Tasty once had a secondary meaning of "elegant" or "tasteful."
Vocabulary lists containing tasty
List 4
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"A Suitcase of Seaweed" and "Immigrants Today"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Pizza, Pizza!
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
In previous research on dogs, the same brain region has been found to light up when the dogs anticipated a tasty snack, or smelled a familiar person.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Enjoy a tasty tomato treat: Summer is the perfect time to enjoy tomato sandwiches—and not just because they’re delicious.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
Toasted Apples might sound tasty, but they are a real problem in Jessa Jones’s repair shop.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Yeast has been growing in the guts of a frozen mummy called Oetzi the Iceman for thousands of years, scientists have discovered, telling AFP they used it to make a tasty sourdough bread.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
They were tasty but not enough to amount to a Wonder.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
Let’s be real: Garlic makes just about everything tastier.
From Slate ● Jun. 15, 2026
"It's so juicy, and the more you chew, the tastier it gets," he said, grinning as he and his friends sat around the grilling stone and bubbling pot.
From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 2025
"If we better understand the underlying processes," says Luo, "we can cook tastier and more digestible dishes, so to speak, because then we'll know exactly which spices, in which amounts, make the sauce especially tasty."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2025
A March survey-based report out of Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability found that “many consumers view conventional meats as both tastier and healthier than laboratory-grown alternatives.”
From Salon ● May 14, 2024
Our shore duties also included cooking and cleaning for the master, and the boys fought over these jobs for the sake of his leftovers, which were far tastier than ours.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
Before private asset stocks lost their savor this year, StepStone Group was one of the tastiest.
From Barron's ● May 20, 2026
She says they're not the tastiest - but they serve a purpose.
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2026
My culinary reward came at Veera Flavors, which offered the tastiest thali—a tin tray piled high with vegetable dishes, rice, yogurt and pickles—outside of Chennai.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025
Farmers in southwest Mexico began to select the progeny of teosinte plants that produced the most grains, and the tastiest grains, more than 9,000 years ago.
From Science Daily ● May 22, 2024
Stuffing and gorging, he moved from place to place, choosing only the tastiest morsels.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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.
