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.
any dish flavored with curry powder or the like.
a lamb curry.
John (Anthony), 1949–94, British figure skater.
John Steuart 1897–1946, U.S. painter.
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
curry seasoning or sauce
slang to assault (a person) verbally or physically
to beat vigorously, as in order to clean
to dress and finish (leather) after it has been tanned to make it strong, flexible, and waterproof
to groom (a horse)
to ingratiate oneself, esp with superiors
First recorded in 1590–1600, from Tamil kaṟi “sauce, relish”
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
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."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
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.
