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  • curry
    curry
    noun
    a pungent dish of vegetables, onions, meat or fish, etc., flavored with various spices or curry powder, and often eaten with rice.
  • Curry
    Curry
    noun
    John (Anthony), 1949–94, British figure skater.
Synonyms

curry

1 American  
[kur-ee, kuhr-ee] / ˈkɜr i, ˈkʌr i /
Sometimes currie

noun

curries plural
  1. East Indian Cooking. a pungent dish of vegetables, onions, meat or fish, etc., flavored with various spices or curry powder, and often eaten with rice.

  2. any dish flavored with curry powder or the like.

    a lamb curry.

  3. curry powder.


verb (used with object)

curried, currying
  1. to cook or flavor (food) with curry powder or a similar combination of spices.

    to curry eggs.

idioms

  1. give (someone) a bit of curry, to rebuke, discipline, or criticize; harass.

curry 2 American  
[kur-ee, kuhr-ee] / ˈkɜr i, ˈkʌr i /

verb (used with object)

curried, currying
  1. to rub and clean (a horse) with a currycomb.

  2. to dress (tanned hides) by soaking, scraping, beating, coloring, etc.

  3. to beat; thrash.


idioms

  1. curry favor, to seek to advance oneself through flattery or fawning.

    His fellow workers despised him for currying favor with the boss.

Curry 3 American  
[kur-ee, kuhr-ee] / ˈkɜr i, ˈkʌr i /

noun

  1. John (Anthony), 1949–94, British figure skater.

  2. John Steuart 1897–1946, U.S. painter.


curry 1 British  
/ ˈkʌrɪ /

noun

  1. a spicy dish of oriental, esp Indian, origin that is made in many ways but usually consists of meat or fish prepared in a hot piquant sauce

  2. curry seasoning or sauce

  3. slang to assault (a person) verbally or physically

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. (tr) to prepare (food) with curry powder or sauce

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
curry 2 British  
/ ˈkʌrɪ /

verb

  1. to beat vigorously, as in order to clean

  2. to dress and finish (leather) after it has been tanned to make it strong, flexible, and waterproof

  3. to groom (a horse)

  4. to ingratiate oneself, esp with superiors

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Curry 3 British  
/ ˈkʌrɪ /

noun

  1. John ( Anthony ). 1949–94, British ice skater: won the figure-skating gold medal in the 1976 Olympic Games

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of curry1

First recorded in 1590–1600, from Tamil kaṟi “sauce, relish”

Origin of curry2

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English curreien, curraien, curry, from Anglo-French curreier, Old French corroier, earlier conreer “to make ready,” from Vulgar Latin conrēdāre (unrecorded); see origin at corody

Explanation

Curry is a South Asian-style dish of vegetables or meat in a very flavorful, spicy sauce. You can try many types of curry in an Indian restaurant. There are different curries from different parts of Asia — a Thai curry, for example, might consist of shrimp and vegetables in a rich yellow sauce. When curry is a verb, it can mean "make curry," but it's more commonly "groom a horse." A curry comb, in fact, is specially made for this purpose. This curry comes from the Anglo-French curreier, "to comb a horse," while the dish has a Tamil root, kari, "sauce."

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing curry

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 crab curry is so delicious and they do these street food sausages that we crave.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 3, 2026

And what are the incentives for Republican lawmakers to curry favor with these figures?

From Slate May 7, 2026

Between checkpoints she would snack on cashews and almonds and then at the end of that day's marathon she would have curry, rice, eggs and roti, as well as crisps and chocolate for extra calories.

From BBC Apr. 27, 2026

A jar of curry sauce, a pot of rice and the quiet confidence that dinner will take care of itself.

From Salon Apr. 26, 2026

“Sorry to interrupt your dinner—is that curry? It smells great.”

From "A Soft Place to Land" by Janae Marks

Would James return home to Cleveland, return to Miami, possibly join pals Stephen Curry and Draymond Green at Golden State?

From Barron's Jul. 24, 2026

Golden State is intriguing: A Bay Area 35-plus senior community featuring old rivals Steph Curry and Draymond Green.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 24, 2026

Perhaps the same will be true with “Obsession”; Curry Barker’s copycats will try and fail to interpret the trials of dating when personality is a facade, and I’ll be left eating crow.

From Salon Jul. 22, 2026

The film shot Curry Barker onto the A-list of new directing talent and made a star of Inde Navarrette and her virtuosically unhinged performance as Nikki.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 21, 2026

I was surprised and pleased to discover that Foy Curry, the cafe-owner, was, after all, a man of some wit.

From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin

The fiery flavouring is a staple of dining tables regionwide, the obligatory accompaniment for everything from rice and peas, to curries and stews.

From BBC May 31, 2026

For the first time, the targets also included 24 out-of-home food categories such as burgers, curries, and pizza.

From Science Daily Jan. 31, 2026

It’s used exclusively in savory dishes, namely curries, due to its robust, smoky flavor.

From Salon Jan. 25, 2026

Levy UK says it aims to use the whole animal, turning lesser cuts into burgers, curries and pies.

From Barron's Dec. 21, 2025

Then we’d all have a huge feast with mutton biryani, dal, curries, poori, paratha, and pakora.

From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani

Additional favorites include a homemade rotisserie chicken Caesar salad, an avocado and cilantro-forward salad and a curried chicken salad, complete with a mayo-based curry chutney dressing and whole cashews.

From Salon Jun. 29, 2026

"For the next week we just had tuna every day, it was a bit like Forrest Gump and the shrimp, we had curried tuna, fried tuna, battered tuna, beer-battered tuna, raw tuna."

From BBC Jun. 6, 2026

To push their deal through, the shot-calling Ellisons, Larry and David, have indeed curried favor with Mr. Trump.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 5, 2026

Once identified among the intelligentsia as a “reformicon” hoping to shift a neoconservative GOP toward a pro-working-class direction, Salam had long curried liberal affection as “literary Brooklyn’s favorite conservative.”

From Slate Sep. 25, 2024

They make nice chicken, which is the best thing they make, and also a pretty good curried goat.

From "Slam!" by Walter Dean Myers

And I’d say that currying the favor of 84% is still pretty darn good.

From Salon Mar. 27, 2026

He first fought with the invading Japanese to oust Britain, before swapping sides as the tide of war changed and currying favour with London for the cause of independence.

From Barron's Dec. 23, 2025

At the temple, Prapakaran, the software engineer, walked 11 circles around the inner sanctum, part of the ritual for currying favor with the Visa God.

From The Wall Street Journal Sep. 15, 2025

The perfect venue, the CEO of the Chinese hacking company thought, to hold a Lunar New Year banquet currying favor with government officials.

From Seattle Times Mar. 7, 2024

He had wasted no time in currying favor with the new king.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

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