cooking

American  

[kook-ing] / ˈkʊk ɪŋ /

noun

1. the act of a person or thing that cooks.

2. the art or practice of preparing food; cookery.

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adjective

1. used in preparing foods.

   All of my cooking utensils are packed, so I had to order pizza.

2. suited for use in cooked food.

   The Golden Delicious is our favorite cooking apple, especially for applesauce.

Other Word Forms

• self-cooking
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of cooking

First recorded in 1635–45; cook ¹ + -ing ¹ for the noun senses; cook ¹ + -ing ² for the adjective senses

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cooking

For Netflix, the spouses have put forward numerous projects, including documentary series and reality shows “Harry & Meghan,” “Heart of Invictus” and cooking show “With Love, Meghan.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

After years of working in fast-paced restaurants, she spent the summer cooking whatever she wanted in Bandier’s tastefully appointed kitchen with essentially an unlimited budget.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

This pot lacks that type of residue, suggesting that it probably was not placed directly over a fire for cooking.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026

A beef-tallow-induced identity crisis: Earlier this year, Luke Winkie set out to crack the biggest culinary mystery in America: Why has this old-fashioned cooking ingredient become so polarizing?

From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026

They were cooking their mulligan over the fires.

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck

Related Words

• cookery
• cuisine
• culinary art
• culinary science