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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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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verb

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

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

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Curry ³ British  

/ ˈkʌrɪ /

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• curries
  plural

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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

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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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

curry Curry curries curried currying

Mia's first recipe is a chickpea curry: "It's very cheap and very nutritious," she says.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

People in prison confess to crimes, regardless of innocence, for any manner of reasons: because they are coerced, because their memories are unclear, to curry favor, for attention.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

Dropping tens of thousands of dollars on a watch is a good way to curry favor with sales assistants who allocate Birkins to clients.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

Thai food greeted Navarrete at the office — red curry, fried rice, drunken noodles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

I had no present for her apart from the egg curry.

From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Curry crossed over Doncic, sending him falling on the court in the third quarter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

Fin Baxter, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jamie George, Will Stuart, George Furbank and Ben Curry - among others - have all been short of minutes or form this season.

From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026

Before Paul called the property home, stars including Robert Pattinson, Jim Parsons, Noah Wyle, Tim Curry, cinematographer Robert Richardson, and NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had all reportedly lived at the estate.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

Scientists who drew attention to that disconnect, such as Judith Curry, were assailed rather than debated.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

“I knew a girl who married a Curry boy. She was very beautiful. We were in school together. Her name was Minerva. Do you know her?”

From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm

A treat for anyone who loves a little wordplay: Can you think of an 11-letter phrase that describes some curries or romances?

From Slate ● Aug. 26, 2026

Smoky, charcoal-grilled meats and fragrant wok-cooked tomato curries sizzling over an open flame.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

"You will see fast food, Indian breads and curries, desserts, and whatever else people have been sending," said Kaanita, a 21-year-old student.

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

Lamb is often Muslim consumers' meat of choice for family occasions and festivals like Ramadan and Eid, while mutton is a popular ingredient in curries and stews.

From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2026

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

From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani

"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

He curried favor in Abu Dhabi by backing a local tech incubator and building personal ties to the royals via a circle of well-connected friends on the city’s luxurious Saadiyat island.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025

Some say he spent most tea times with New Yorker reporter Emily Hahn, two legends living legendarily, sharing tales over cucumber sandwiches, curried prawns, scones with clotted cream and strong black tea.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2025

There are also the moderation bots, which, as I’ve reported, have curried some backlash for allegedly overaggressive policing of comments about controversial celebrities like Elon Musk and Luigi Mangione.

From Slate ● Jun. 23, 2025

And while some are easily guessed as ginger with peach or curried coconut, others remain delicious mysteries.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Rodriguez has sought to frame her interim government as more permissive of political dissent while currying favour with the US.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

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

Under the constant currying and brushing his coat lay as smooth and gleaming as orange-red lacquer.

From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck

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Related Words

• sauce
• seasoning

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