cuisine
Americannoun
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a style or quality of cooking; cookery.
Italian cuisine; This restaurant has an excellent cuisine.
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Archaic. the kitchen or culinary department of a house, hotel, etc.
noun
-
a style or manner of cooking
French cuisine
-
the food prepared by a restaurant, household, etc
Etymology
Origin of cuisine
1475–85; < French: literally, kitchen < Vulgar Latin *cocīna, for Latin coquīna; see kitchen
Explanation
Cuisine is a type of food that is cooked in a specific way based on a culture's ingredients, region, and traditions. If you're craving cannoli, a visit to Chinatown doesn't make much sense, since cheese is more characteristic of Italian cuisine. Boiling an egg or flipping burgers on the grill is cooking. But if you want to create cuisine, you need to understand how to prepare the culinary specialties of a particular country or culture. To make Italian cuisine, for example, you'll need to chop garlic, roll out pasta dough, and simmer pots of tomato sauce. When the word "fine" is attached to cuisine, it describes the food at a fancy restaurant that will part you with a good portion of your money.
Vocabulary lists containing cuisine
Eat Your Words
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Passover Vocabulary
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Mardi Gras: Food
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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.
Its larvae, also known as chinicuiles, have been eaten in Mexico for centuries and are an important part of traditional cuisine.
From Science Daily • Apr. 26, 2026
In Bengal, fish is more than food - it is the bloodstream of the cuisine, woven into memory, ritual and everyday life, a marker of both identity and belonging.
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026
For something different, Mochi offers excellent contemporary Japanese cuisine, and Fabios is a great option for a more upscale dinner.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
Zhao told AFP he was looking forward to eating North Korea's "incredibly rich and diverse" cuisine and hoped increased exchanges between both countries could deepen ties "to a new level".
From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026
It was a secret held from me: Norwegian cuisine was the best in the world!
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
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.
