chowder
Americannoun
-
chowders
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of chowder
1735–45, < French chaudière pot, kettle < Late Latin caldāria cauldron
Explanation
Chowder is a thick, chunky soup that often contains fish or shellfish. New England is well known for its creamy, rich version of clam chowder. Chowder is somewhere between a soup and a stew — it's full of chunks of potato and onions, thick with bacon, fish, or vegetables, and sometimes eaten with crackers on the side or crumbled on top. Chowder is one of many words that distinctly originated in America, and it was included in the first edition of Noah Webster's dictionary of American English. Chowder comes from the pot in which it's cooked, chaudière, French for "a pot."
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:
"This is why we eat clam chowder and we don't eat brachiopod chowder," Sperling said.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
The chowder is ready once the mixture has reduced and is nice and thick.
From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2026
That includes mashed potatoes, chicken pot pie and casserole, or big pots of soup, chowder, gumbo and jambalaya.
From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2026
Anyone beyond the land of candlepin bowling and cringing at red clam chowder thought they had a better shot at finishing at the bottom of the standings than reaching the Super Bowl.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 26, 2026
Every surface is covered in a layer of grime and graffiti, and the air is thick and sticky, like chowder soup.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
A taste of New England in West Hollywood, it quickly became known for fried clams and chowders harkening to Cimarusti’s Rhode Island childhood and plump lobster rolls filled with never-frozen lobster.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2026
Dry sherry makes most any chowder better, especially red chowders.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2024
Restaurants and home cooks are filling hollowed-out, crusty round vessels with hot stews and chowders.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 15, 2023
The 4-acre facility, which can produce up to 25 tons of chowders, soups and gravies a day, seven days a week, has seen a recent leveling-off in shipping costs for some ingredients.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 9, 2022
For instance, fish may be boiled, steamed, baked, fried, broiled, sautéd, and, in addition, used for various kinds of bisques, chowders, and numerous other made dishes.
From Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume 3: Soup; Meat; Poultry and Game; Fish and Shell Fish by Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
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.
