cognac
noun
the brandy distilled in and shipped from the legally delimited area surrounding the town of Cognac, in W central France.
cognac
American
[kohn-yak, kon-, kaw-nyak]
/ ˈkoʊn jæk, ˈkɒn-, kɔˈnjak /
noun
-
cognacs
plural
-
(often initial capital letter) the brandy distilled in and shipped from the legally delimited area surrounding the town of Cognac, in W central France.
-
any French brandy.
-
any good brandy.
Cognac
British
/ kɔɲak, ˈkɒnjæk /
noun
-
a town in SW France: centre of the district famed for its brandy. Pop: 19 534 (1999)
-
(sometimes not capital) a high-quality grape brandy
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cognac
Borrowed into English from French around 1585–95
Compare meaning
How does cognac compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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:
The French distiller said sales of its high-end cognac brands were 7.7% higher organically over its fiscal first quarter through June.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
The businessman, who made his money in cognac and real estate, had renounced his Ukrainian citizenship some years ago.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
Champagne and cognac accounted for 40 percent of the export values, at around 600 million euros each.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
In the two weeks preceding the election, Moscow banned the export of Armenian flowers, mineral water, cognac, fresh vegetables and fruit.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
His darling “Lotje” has sent him eggs, butter, cookies, lemonade, bread, cognac, spice cake, flowers, oranges, chocolate, books and writing paper.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
Within this Cognac sales were down 0.5% organically to 573.6 million euros, while its partner brand sales were 23% lower at 15.6 million euros.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
Although Jackson has mentioned Branson Cognac recently on social media, he hasn’t said anything about the legal victory.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2025
Thousands of jobs are at stake in the Charente region alone, he says: "Cognac is a product that's made for export."
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2025
In addition to the pork trade case, the Ministry of Commerce already began in January a case against imports of Cognac and other European wine-based spirits that come mainly from France.
From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2024
See Le Pays du Cognac, by L. Ravaz, for a description of the district and its viticulture.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 6 "Cockaigne" to "Columbus, Christopher" by Various
Maybe CFB should go Waymo, blame the robots for any uproar about gatekeeping and big-school elitism and let the smoke-filled room return to cognacs and afternoon naps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025
Macron brought up some particularly French concerns, including China’s threat of tariffs on cognacs.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2024
For long, rum has been relegated to the bottom shelf of bar cabinets around the world with whiskeys, cognacs and gins taking prime slots.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2023
There’s a brass lamp from Rick’s, fringed with imitation gemstones, and two rattan chairs where Europe’s desperate and displaced drank their cognacs and plotted their escapes.
From New York Times ● Dec. 1, 2022
"Then I'll teach you how to test them in future," he laughed, adding, "Henry, bring up those three old cognacs, a bottle of ordinary brandy, and some liqueur-glasses."
From Spies of the Kaiser Plotting the Downfall of England by William Le Queux
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.
