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

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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cooking

I loved cooking Thanksgiving in Mary’s kitchen partly because, for a few days, it felt like our own.

From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026

Underneath the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, an elevated highway along Manhattan’s East Side, encampments have filled public areas with debris, including propane tanks used for cooking.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026

If we are not cooking, we’re going out to eat somewhere.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026

Fiercely proud of its culinary traditions, India is increasingly open to foreign influences, with French cooking schools attracting students eager to make their mark on the country's growing fine-dining sector.

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026

When she flipped it over with her bamboo flipping stick and then neatly back into her banana leaf, it was just bread, because cooking bread was what she had to do today.

From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr

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Related Words

• cookery
• cuisine
• culinary art
• culinary science

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