adobo
Americannoun
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adobos
plural
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a Filipino dish of pork or chicken stewed in a marinade of vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, herbs, and spices; the national dish of the Philippines.
The pork adobo we had in Manila may be the best meal I’ve ever had.
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a Latin American dish of meat or fish prepared in a pastelike marinade of chiles, cinnamon and other spices, garlic, herbs, and vinegar.
My Mexican brother-in-law makes an awesome adobo with fresh-caught trout.
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the concoction of flavorful ingredients in which the meat or fish of adobo is cooked.
The adobo for tonight’s chicken features Saigon cinnamon and a homemade cider vinegar.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of adobo
First recorded in 1935–40; from Spanish, literally “marinade, marinated meat, pickle,” from adobar “to marinate, pickle,” probably from Old French adober “to prepare, equip (a knight)”; see daube ( def. ), dub 1 ( def. )
Vocabulary lists containing adobo
World Cuisine - Introductory
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World Cuisine - Middle School and High School
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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:
A recent Chipotle ad for the chain’s adobo chicken advertises the meat as grilled—even as an actor flips the thighs on what appears to be a flat-top griddle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Chipotles in adobo bring smoke, spice and richness in a single spoonful.
From Salon ● May 19, 2026
Under the glow of fluorescent lights at Seafood City market in North Hills, packages of premade adobo, salted shrimp fry and and dried anchovies glisten in meat coolers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025
The sea turtle was cooked as adobo, a popular Filipino dish consisting of meat and vegetables stewed in vinegar and soy sauce.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2024
Most of my elementary school friends were Filipino too, and we would eat the home cooked chicken adobo and other dishes our parents made for countless birthdays and Christmas parties.
From Seattle Times ● May 4, 2024
Most adobos are a concoction of several kinds of dried chiles and spices, along with a splash of vinegar.
From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2021
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.
