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  • cheddar
    cheddar
    noun
    Often Cheddar a hard, smooth-textured cheese, made usually from the whole milk of cows and varying in color from white to deep yellow and in flavor from mild to sharp as it ages.
  • Cheddar
    Cheddar
    noun
    (sometimes not capital) any of several types of smooth hard yellow or whitish cheese
Synonyms

cheddar

American  
[ched-er] / ˈtʃɛd ər /

noun

  1. Also called cheddar cheese.  Often Cheddar a hard, smooth-textured cheese, made usually from the whole milk of cows and varying in color from white to deep yellow and in flavor from mild to sharp as it ages.

  2. Slang. money.

    The monthly grand prize is $200, and the yearly grand prize is $1,000—that's a lot of cheddar.


Cheddar British  
/ ˈtʃɛdə /

noun

  1. (sometimes not capital) any of several types of smooth hard yellow or whitish cheese

  2. a village in SW England, in N Somerset: situated near Cheddar Gorge , a pass through the Mendip Hills renowned for its stalactitic caverns and rare limestone flora. Pop: 4796 (2001)

"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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of cheddar

First recorded in 1655–65; named after Cheddar, village in Somersetshire, England, where the cheese was first made

Explanation

Cheddar is a common type of hard cheese. You might use cheddar to make your favorite grilled cheese sandwich. Cheddar ranges in flavor from very mild and smooth to a tangy, sharp taste, and it's color can be anything between a creamy white and a deep orange. This type of cheese was originally made in an English town called Cheddar — and it remains the most popular cheese in England, while it's second only to mozzarella in the US.

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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:

Spermidine is produced naturally by human cells and is also present in foods including wheat germ, mushrooms, parmesan, and cheddar.

From Science Daily Jul. 21, 2026

A pound of cheddar cheese and a pound of chicken wings both ring up at $3.99.

From Barron's Jul. 1, 2026

Finding it was sold out, he reached for Raw Farm’s cheddar, drawn in by packaging that made it seem organic and all-natural.

From Salon Jun. 22, 2026

British products that will have tariffs removed include cheddar cheese, butter and chocolate.

From BBC May 20, 2026

I found the cheese and grater and started shredding cheddar onto the cutting board.

From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows

Empty fridges in a supermarket in Cheddar, Somerset, photographed during the record temperatures of late June 2026.

From BBC Jul. 2, 2026

I plunked down at a gaming station and embarrassed myself playing “Mario Kart” over a lunch of Diet Coke and Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream chips.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 10, 2026

The jawbone was found in excavations from the 1920s in Gough's cave in Cheddar Gorge, now famous for storing its famous cheese.

From BBC Mar. 25, 2026

For years, they lined up at the counter for Oscar’s New York State 3-Year-Old Cheddar.

From The Wall Street Journal Dec. 4, 2025

Then he ate a whole tin of Cheddar cheese from a package of K rations.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

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