culinary
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of culinary
1630–40; < Latin culīnārius of the kitchen, equivalent to culīn ( a ) kitchen, food + -ārius -ary
Explanation
Culinary means having to do with cooking or the kitchen. If you go to culinary school, you're learning how to cook, most likely because you want to work as a chef. If you have a culinary streak, you might love cooking for your friends or maybe just watching cooking shows on TV. If your culinary repertoire includes nothing beyond tuna sandwiches and mac-and-cheese out of the box, you have a lot to learn, culinarily speaking!
Vocabulary lists containing culinary
Eat Your Words
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The First Rule of Punk
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With the Fire on High
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
She also made sure that new editions kept pace with culinary trends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Think of it as the culinary equivalent of shopping your pantry: What two, three or four ingredients keep appearing together in your cooking?
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 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
He also said he had learnt a lot about food from Dent, particularly Indian cuisine, which is central to Birmingham's culinary scene.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
And how he used the money he made from that to put himself through culinary school to become a pastry chef.
From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds
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.
