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

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Etymology

Origin of barbecue

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

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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

An outdoor kitchen and barbecue area are also perfectly-suited for hosting.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 9, 2026

After bowling, we typically end up at any one of our favorite Korean barbecue restaurants.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

I love a barbecue smoked-tofu wrap with shredded red cabbage and corn relish, or a bánh mì-inspired sandwich with crunchy vegetables.

From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2026

From Southern comfort food to Korean barbecue to Uzbek delicacies, these spots don’t skimp on portions—or flavor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

Yesterday being the day of independence for the United States, Wimpy had a barbecue behind his store.

From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez

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

From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2026

Hosted at King Charles III’s private estate in Aberdeenshire, the vacation is normally a time for the wider royal clan to get together, decompress, have barbecues and go hunting, away from the public eye.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

The second-year running back has made it a priority to get close with linemen by talking more and going to their barbecues.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

Disposal barbecues have been temporarily banned from sale over fears they pose a "significant risk to the public" as drought and heatwave conditions continue to grip the UK.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 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

I threw my arms around Big Ma, happy that we’d be eating barbecue in late October when Big Ma only smoked and barbecued meat in the summer.

From "P.S. Be Eleven" by Rita Williams-Garcia

"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

In recent days, videos have circulated on social media showing Ukrainians barbecuing in snowy yards and dancing to keep warm in the face of continued power cuts and freezing temperatures.

From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2026

But that didn’t stop him from sharing an “EXCLUSIVE” video last week that showed African immigrants in Dayton … barbecuing chicken.

From Slate ● Sep. 25, 2024

To check whether she’s staring, I test her with a long gaze to the left of the bleachers, where Dad and his wife Linda are barbecuing.

From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali

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Related Words

• broil
• grill
• sear

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