baking
Americannoun
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the activity or practice of cooking food using dry heat, especially in an oven.
Baking can give cuts of poultry a crispy, browned exterior.
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food cooked using dry heat, especially bread, pastry, cakes, etc..
Nothing puts me into the Christmas spirit like the smells of holiday baking.
adjective
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extremely hot.
It was unseasonably cold last week, but this week it's absolutely baking.
-
used in preparing food cooked with dry heat, especially bread, pastry, cakes, etc..
I can't make cookies without a baking tray.
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suited for use in pies, pastry, etc..
Proper baking apples are needed for a good apple crumble.
noun
-
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the process of cooking bread, cakes, etc
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( as modifier )
a baking dish
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the bread, cakes, etc, cooked at one time
adjective
Etymology
Origin of baking
First recorded in 1300–50; 1650–60 baking for def. 3; Middle English; bake ( def. ) + -ing 1 ( def. ) for the noun senses; bake ( def. ) + -ing 2 ( def. ) for the adjective senses
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.
“King Arthur Baking Company’s the Book of Pizza,” written by Martin Philip and David Tamarkin, claims that our society is now at “peak pizza.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
Baking has become an important outlet for Lyla and she said her experience on Junior Bake Off was a great way to spread awareness of JIA.
From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026
Contestants on “The Great British Baking Show” do that all the time.
From Salon • Jan. 30, 2026
“The Great British Baking Show” first aired on the BBC in 2010, with Hollywood judging competitors’ bakes alongside Mary Berry.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 26, 2026
Memories of my boyhood days, an old K. C. Baking Powder can. and two little red hounds.
From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls
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.
