compote
Americannoun
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compotes
plural
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fruit stewed or cooked in a syrup, usually served as a dessert.
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Also a dish, usually of glass, china, or silver, having a base, stem, and often a lid, and used for serving fruit, nuts, candy, etc.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of compote
1685–95; < French; Old French composte < Latin composita, feminine of compositus composite; cf. compost
Explanation
Compote is fruit that’s been stewed or baked. It is served as a dessert or as a side dish. Yum. Unless you're a cook this noun may not ring any bells — it refers to a dish that's not so much in fashion these days: stewed fruit in syrup. Most of the words this one might remind you of, such as compose, composite, and compost, are indeed related to it: they all come from Latin composita, which means "mixture." If you like fruit and sweetness, you might like compote, which has usually been eaten as a dessert.
Vocabulary lists containing compote
Pie Chart: Dessert Words
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Chains
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With the Fire on High
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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:
Other examples include combinations like purple sweet potato ice cream, cheesecake with carrot compote, or chocolate bars loaded with salty potato chips.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
However, they swapped it out for a chocolate blueberry cake with chocolate mascarpone mousse and blueberry compote.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
A superstar in French cuisine, tonka has also made its fair share of cameos on “Bake Off,” notably in an apricot compote and a mascarpone cream paired with a ginger, fig and honey pudding.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2025
It seduces with variety of color and texture — just as tangy cranberry compote refreshes after buttery mashed potatoes — but tends to leave you overstuffed.
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2023
Even better was the meal of fried eggs, toasted bread, and a fruit compote of pears and apples topped with strawberries and cream.
From "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson
Besides water, much needed for the hours spent sweating in the swelter, his firetruck is chock-a-chocolate block with gifts of cakes, fruit compotes and other kind offerings.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
These apples are better suited for compotes and preserves, Baldwin advises.
From Salon ● Dec. 11, 2021
I want chicken liver toasts with fruit compotes to stop.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 4, 2020
We worked with Indigenous chefs on the West Coast who use wild manzanita berries and acorn to add tang and substance to berry compotes and puddings.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2019
All of these fruits are excellent prepared as compotes, with pastry, with corn-starch, or with gelatine, making a variety of dishes without number.
From The Century Cook Book by Mary Ronald
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.
