ambrosia

[ am-broh-zhuh ]

/ æmˈbroʊ ʒə /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR ambrosia ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Classical Mythology. the food of the gods.Compare nectar(def 3).

something especially delicious to taste or smell.

a fruit dessert made of oranges and shredded coconut and sometimes pineapple.

RELATED WORDS

delicacy, nectar

Nearby words

Origin of ambrosia

1545–55; < Latin < Greek: immortality, food of the gods, noun use of feminine of ambrósios, equivalent to a- a-⁶ + -mbros- (combining form of brotōs mortal; akin to Latin mortuus dead, murder) + -ios adj. suffix; replacing Middle English ambrose, ambrosie < Old French ambroise < Latin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for ambrosia

If Tilda Swinton ate anything for five years straight, it would probably be ambrosia.
The Tilda Swinton Weirdness Quiz: All About the MoMA-Napping Actress|Melissa Leon|March 27, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Start with the beets and horseradish crème fraiche, then move on to the Ambrosia burger, ending strong with the banana cream pie.
Gal With a Suitcase|Jolie Hunt|February 20, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Like ambrosia from the gods, I suddenly realized that Nicotine is the most amazing legal substance of the twentieth century.
How My Little Slice of Heaven Became My Toddler's Hell|Laura Bennett|October 21, 2008|DAILY BEAST
This, above all nectar and ambrosia, was the favourite dish of Penrod Schofield.
Penrod|Booth Tarkington

By day she fed him with ambrosia, and by night covered him with celestial fire, to render him immortal.
Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology|Charles K. Dillaway
I always wondered what it meant when I read that the gods lived on ambrosia and nectar.
Peter Cotterell's Treasure|Rupert Sargent Holland
The ambrosia and nectar of the feasts of the deities of fable are overshadowed by the fragrance and sweetness of your worshippers.
Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916|Various
His winter may come hoar with ideas, and brown October shall be his golden age of orchards and their ambrosia.
Tablets|Amos Bronson Alcott

British Dictionary definitions for ambrosia

ambrosia

/ (æmˈbrəʊzɪə) /

noun

classical myth the food of the gods, said to bestow immortalityCompare nectar (def. 2)

anything particularly delightful to taste or smell

another name for beebread

any of various herbaceous plants constituting the genus Ambrosia, mostly native to America but widely naturalized: family Asteraceae (composites). The genus includes the ragweeds

Derived Formsambrosial or ambrosian, adjectiveambrosially, adverb

Word Origin for ambrosia

C16: via Latin from Greek: immortality, from ambrotos, from a- 1 + brotos mortal

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ambrosia

ambrosia

1550s, "favored food or drink of the gods," from Latin ambrosia, from Greek ambrosia "food of the gods," fem. of ambrosios, probably literally "of the immortals," from a- "not" (see a- (3)) + mbrotos, related to mortos "mortal," from PIE *mer- "to die" (see mortal (adj.)). Applied to certain herbs by Pliny and Dioscorides; used of various foods for mortals since 1680s (originally of fruit drinks); used figuratively for "anything delightful" by 1731.

Culture definitions for ambrosia

ambrosia

[ (am-broh-zhuh) ]

The food of the gods in classical mythology. Those who ate it became immortal.

Note

Particularly delicious food is sometimes called “ambrosia.”