crisp
Americanadjective
-
crisper,
comparative
-
crispest
superlative
-
(especially of food) hard but easily breakable; brittle.
crisp toast.
-
(especially of food) firm and fresh; not soft or wilted.
a crisp leaf of lettuce.
-
a crisp reply.
-
crisp repartee.
-
clean-cut, neat, and well-pressed; well-groomed.
-
invigorating; bracing.
crisp air.
-
crinkled, wrinkled, or rippled, as skin or water.
-
in small, stiff, or firm curls; curly.
verb (used with or without object)
-
crisps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
crisped,
past participle, past
-
crisping
present participle
-
to make or become crisp.
-
to curl.
noun
-
Chiefly British. potato chip.
-
Cooking. a dessert of fruit, as apples or apricots, baked with a crunchy mixture, usually of breadcrumbs, chopped nutmeats, butter, and brown sugar.
adjective
-
dry and brittle
-
fresh and firm
crisp lettuce
-
invigorating or bracing
a crisp breeze
-
clear; sharp
crisp reasoning
-
lively or stimulating
crisp conversation
-
clean and orderly; neat
a crisp appearance
-
concise and pithy; terse
a crisp reply
-
wrinkled or curly
crisp hair
verb
noun
-
a very thin slice of potato fried and eaten cold as a snack
-
something that is crisp
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
crispsimple
-
crispssimple
-
have crispedperfect
-
has crispedperfect
-
am crispingprogressive
-
are crispingprogressive
-
is crispingprogressive
-
have been crispingperfect progressive
-
has been crispingperfect progressive
Past
-
crispedsimple
-
had crispedperfect
-
was crispingprogressive
-
were crispingprogressive
-
had been crispingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of crisp
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English, from Latin crispus “curled”
Explanation
Something that's crisp is thin, dry, and breakable. Unless they're stale, most crackers are crisp. Gingersnaps are crisp, and so is toast — in fact, crisp often describes food, although crunchy snow and dry, brown leaves are also crisp. To crisp something is to cook or dry it until it's brittle, and when a voice is crisp, it's abrupt and no-nonsense. A crisp fall morning is fresh and cold. In Old English, crisp meant "curly," from the Latin crispus, "curled." The "brittle" definition is probably imitative, the word sounding like its meaning.
Vocabulary lists containing crisp
Wintry Words
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Chill Out! Synonyms for "Cold"
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"Stone Fox" by John Reynolds Gardiner
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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:
The scene resembles the Ukrainian flag: yellow fields of corn, sunflowers and wheat, a crisp blue September sky.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
The quicksilver changes of scene in this urban hellscape are handled with crisp dispatch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
"Today I see a boom in Ukrainian wineries," he said, noting that from full-bodied reds in the south to the crisp whites of the west, "our terroirs and climate are incredibly diverse".
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
Together, the three of them had climbed the world's highest peaks, under crisp mountain skies and in treacherous snowstorms.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
I stepped out the back of our cottage and took a deep breath of crisp air.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
The Dodgers went up against an even crisper version of Sale than usual.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Sucking out excess humidity makes the air feel crisper and cooler without toggling the thermostat.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
She’s wearing oversize sunglasses, a crisp collared shirt, an even crisper pleated navy skirt and leopard-print pumps.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
The good news is that there will be lulls between the successive weather systems, with sparkling sunshine and crisper conditions.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2026
My eyes continued to scan as I shook the can, making sure the contents were mixed so that the paint would come out even and clean, creating a crisper result.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
Sitting by the Rhine one evening with friends, I sipped a glass of white purchased from a food truck that was one of the lightest, crispest wines I've ever consumed.
From Salon ● Sep. 10, 2023
The crispest quote of the modern political era was written in 2018 by a man named Frank Wilhoit.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 6, 2022
It's traditionally served on or with tostadas, and it is best enjoyed on hot afternoons and at hungover lunches, preferably paired with the largest, crispest lager you can find.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2018
“The number of other women in the unit is one way to get at social isolation, but it’s not the crispest measure,” Dr. Street said.
From New York Times ● May 24, 2015
White men in the crispest, slickest suits—black and navy and tweed, some with loosened ties and coats unbuttoned or cast aside over chairs.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
The marauding monkeys brazenly snatch ice cream, cakes and crisps from unwitting tourists in addition to gobbling abandoned leftovers from bins or food directly offered to them.
From Barron's ● May 22, 2026
Food such as chocolate bars, crisps and ice cream have negative digestive effects for the macaques but are "as delicious for them" as they are for humans, according to a Cambridge University study.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
It will launch "fan of the match" promotions for its Lays crisps brand during the tournament.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026
All the kids would play out in the street every day, you could walk into any neighbor’s house and they would feed you or you could get a packet of crisps.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
Pass him in the corridor and he is fishing potato crisps out of a bag by the fistful.
From "The Witches" by Roald Dahl
Each berry came out as a single large, flat flake that crisped when baked.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026
The result is a pasta I have begun making on repeat: olive-forward, lemon-lit, threaded with crisped chickpeas and slumped feta.
From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2026
Leftover pizza gets cut up, crisped on the stove and mixed into scrambled eggs—a remnant from Duggal’s college days that she has christened “pizza eggs.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025
The vegetable was bronzed, the cheese melted and browned, perfect curlicues of crisped cheese enveloping each strand of roasted fennel.
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2025
Robert Hooke evidently saw clouds perfectly clearly when he asked, ‘What is the reason of the various Figure of the Clouds, undulated, hairy, crisped, coyled, confus’d, and the like?’
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Once the cooking area is cleared, Brown pours olive oil into a pan and shows Prado her trick for crisping tortillas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2024
The cake's surface will look different if it is soaked in syrup, making it moist and sticky, or if it is put in the oven, crisping and darkening the surface.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 7, 2023
They get smash-grilled, crisping the exterior with Maillard-reaction goodness; at assembly, an extra slab of house-cured pork belly adds more smoke, salt and fat.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 26, 2023
You’ll start by crisping the skin of 2 or 3 salmon fillets.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 14, 2023
Athena lent a hand, making him seem taller, and massive too, with crisping hair in curls like petals of wild hyacinth, but all red-golden.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
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.
