delicatessen
Americannoun
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a store selling foods already prepared or requiring little preparation for serving, as cooked meats, cheese, salads, and the like.
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Informal. the food products sold in such a store or at a counter.
We're having delicatessen for dinner.
noun
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a shop selling various foods, esp unusual or imported foods, already cooked or prepared
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such foods
Etymology
Origin of delicatessen
1885–90, < German, plural of Delikatesse dainty < French délicatesse
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.
The city’s appetizing stores, which first appeared in the late 19th century, are a type of delicatessen that only sells products such as smoked and cured fish, dairy and nuts due to kosher law.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025
The alleged illegal activities came to light in 2021, when media reports surfaced that Hometown International, whose sole asset was a delicatessen in Paulsboro, New Jersey, had a valuation of about $100 million.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 20, 2023
I mentioned that Canter’s delicatessen on Fairfax, another hangout from the old days, was still there.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 13, 2023
Shumana Palit is a wine specialist and the owner of Ultracomida, a delicatessen and wine merchant with stores in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, and Narberth in Pembrokeshire.
From BBC • Oct. 15, 2022
In a delicatessen, black flies swim over a half dozen tables.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
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.
