apéritif
Americannoun
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a small drink of alcoholic liquor taken to stimulate the appetite before a meal.
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Also called apéritif wine. a wine served as an appetizer or cocktail.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of apéritif
1890–95; < French ( vin ) apéritif; see aperitive
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:
The venue also has commercial sponsors, which help it stay afloat, and has even started hosting daytime concerts during “vermut,” the traditional pre-lunch apéritif hour.
From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2023
Unlike Aperol, which is an apéritif, Vermouth is a fortified wine that has a subtly spiced flavor with a hint of bitter on the finish.
From Salon ● May 30, 2022
Pastis is named for pastis, an anise-flavored apéritif usually mixed with water and ice before serving.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 13, 2019
It works as an apéritif with olives or tapenade, and at the table, with grilled seafood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2015
We went out to the Café Napolitain to have an apéritif and watch the evening crowd on the Boulevard.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
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Decadence ruled the evening: There were fizzy apéritifs, overflowing concession stands and an in-person intro by Swift herself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 22, 2023
As apéritifs go, Lillet Blanc is a guaranteed crowdpleaser — not too bitter, or too herbal or too sweet.
From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2021
As jazz emanated from speakers and a bartender poured apéritifs, Bryan Christian, a book club habitué who works at Hyperion, arrived in a natty summer suit with patterned pocket square.
From New York Times ● Aug. 11, 2010
I wondered what he would do for food and lodging, to say nothing of tobacco, apéritifs, and other such necessaries of life.
From The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol by Ball, Alec
His arrival created at first almost a sensation, a slight feeling of constraint even, amongst the little gathering of men drinking their apéritifs in the lounge under the stairs.
From Nobody's Man by Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
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.