barbecue

American  

[bahr-bi-kyoo] / ˈbɑr bɪˌkju /

Or barbeque,

noun

• barbecues
  plural

1. pieces of meat, fowl, fish, or the like, roasted or smoked over fire, especially when basted in a barbecue sauce.

   The restaurant serves amazing barbecue.

2. a framework, such as a grill or a spit, for cooking meat or vegetables over an open fire.

   Make sure you clean off the barbecue so it's ready to use when we go camping.

3. a meal, usually in the open air and often as a social gathering, at which meats are roasted on a grill or over an open hearth or pit.

4. any social gathering centered around food, especially meat, that is cooked over fire using a grill, spit, smoker, or the like.

   Our weekend barbecue was lively until it started to rain.

5. a dressed steer, lamb, or other animal, roasted whole.

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verb (used with object)

• barbecues,
  present (3rd person singular)
• barbecued,
  past participle,  past
• barbecuing
  present participle

1. to broil, smoke, or roast (meat, fowl, fish, or the like) whole or in large pieces over an open fire, using a spit, grill, smoker, or the like, often seasoning with vinegar, spices, salt, and pepper.

   They barbecued a chicken and some steaks for dinner.

2. to cook (sliced or diced meat, fowl, fish, or the like) in a highly seasoned sauce.

verb (used without object)

• barbecues,
  present (3rd person singular)
• barbecued,
  past participle,  past
• barbecuing
  present participle

1. to cook over an open fire using an instrument such as a grill, spit, or smoker, or to host a social gathering where food is cooked in this manner.

   If the weather's nice, we'll barbecue in the backyard.

barbecue British  

/ ˈbɑːbɪˌkjuː /

noun

1. a meal cooked out of doors over an open fire

2. an outdoor party or picnic at which barbecued food is served

3. a grill or fireplace used in barbecuing

4. the food so cooked

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verb

1. to cook (meat, fish, etc) on a grill, usually over charcoal and often with a highly seasoned sauce

2. to cook (meat, fish, etc) in a highly seasoned sauce

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• barbecuer
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• barbecues
  plural

Participles

• barbecuing
  present
• barbecued
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• barbecue
  simple
• barbecues
  simple
• have barbecued
  perfect
• has barbecued
  perfect
• am barbecuing
  progressive
• are barbecuing
  progressive
• is barbecuing
  progressive
• have been barbecuing
  perfect progressive
• has been barbecuing
  perfect progressive

Past

• barbecued
  simple
• had barbecued
  perfect
• was barbecuing
  progressive
• were barbecuing
  progressive
• had been barbecuing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will barbecue
  simple
• will have barbecued
  perfect
• will be barbecuing
  progressive
• will have been barbecuing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of barbecue

First recorded in 1655–65; from Spanish barbacoa, from Arawak (perhaps Taíno ) barbacoa “a raised frame of sticks”

Explanation

A barbecue is an outdoor party where food is cooked on a grill or over a fire. Your family might host a barbecue every summer to celebrate the end of the school year. If you're invited to a barbecue, you'll probably be served meat that's been slowly cooked or smoked over a fire, served with sweet and spicy barbecue sauce. Sometimes this kind of food itself is called barbecue, and the oven or grill that's used is also a barbecue. This word dates from the 17th century, from the Spanish barbacoa, which probably stems from the Arawakan barbakoa, "framework of sticks" used to cure meat.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

barbecue barbecues barbecued barbecuing

On their private rooftop, they added a pergola, a barbecue area and an outdoor eating and lounging area.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

Grüner Veltliner’s relatively high acidity, herbal-fruity profile and signature white pepper notes help it pair with everything from barbecue to mole to sashimi to pad thai to fried chicken.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

The causes of most are still under investigation, although it was confirmed a barbecue started the one in Stoke on Trent.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

Additional 2- and 4-ounce sides of Cajun barbecue chicken, jerk chicken and suya beef can be added for $2 and $4.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

My least favorite day...but today has been tolerable because Tía Mari invited Mami’s old canasta friends for a Sunday barbecue.

From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez

Around that time, he took on the role of grill master at the offensive line barbecues.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026

And I haven’t even gotten to the fantasy talk, which turns otherwise delightful conversationalists into bores you need to avoid at office functions and weekend barbecues.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

Sample some new snacks: Summer barbecues are rife with potato-chip mediocrity.

From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2026

An emergency alert issued on Friday evening urged people not to start fires, including disposable barbecues, firepits, garden incinerators or fireworks.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

And she barbecues anything she can get her hands on.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

Frank barbecued ribs in the yard, his mom served birria with rice and beans, and some 50 friends and classmates showed up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026

I’ll always prefer Mom’s barbecued chicken, fried chicken and French fries, but I have branched out, trying an array of new, relatively tamer foods, ranging from albacore tuna to zucchini.

From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026

Orion wares include 58 tortillas, 43 cups of coffee, barbecued beef brisket and five types of hot sauce.

From Barron's ● Apr. 4, 2026

So we barbecued some hot dogs and just hung out in one of the guys’ backyard with a couple of guitars on a picnic bench ... and we wrote “Lay Me Down.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2025

But I'm not convinced I won't be perfectly barbecued by the time we reach the city's center.

From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

"I can combine barbecuing with my previous work experience, which will be an advantage for me," Xu said after attending a class on editing videos for Douyin -- China's version of TikTok.

From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026

“And my other favorite time is sunset in the upper bedroom or downstairs barbecuing something outdoors. The views really are spectacular.”

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 27, 2026

The rest of the section, which included anodyne listicles about summer activities, barbecuing, and photography, soon attracted additional scrutiny.

From Slate ● May 21, 2025

As you explain in the book, barbecuing and grilling are not the same thing.

From Salon ● May 30, 2024

He also liked barbecuing in his favorite stain-splattered red and white checked apron.

From "Scream for Ice Cream: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #2" by Carolyn Keene

Related Words

• broil
• grill
• sear