flavor
Americannoun
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flavors
plural
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taste, especially the distinctive taste of something as it is experienced in the mouth.
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a substance or extract that provides a particular taste; flavoring.
- Synonyms:
- seasoning
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the characteristic quality of a thing.
He captured the flavor of the experience in his book.
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a particular quality noticeable in a thing.
language with a strong nautical flavor.
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Physics. any of the six labels given to the distinct kinds of quark: up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top.
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Archaic. smell, odor, or aroma.
verb (used with object)
Synonym Usage
See taste.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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preflavornoun
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overflavorverb
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deflavorverb (used with object)
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flavorlessadjective
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unflavoredadjective
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well-flavoredadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of flavor
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French fla(o)ur, from unattested Late Latin flātor “stench, breath,” alteration of Latin flātus a “blowing, breathing,” ( see flatus), perhaps with -or of fētor fetor
Explanation
Flavor is the way something tastes. If an ice cream shop offers 50 flavors, each one of them will taste different. The flavor of your soup can be adjusted by adding salt — and when you add ingredients to change a food's taste, you can say you flavor it. From the flavor of food comes the sense of flavor meaning "atmosphere" or "feeling." You could say, for example, that you're not crazy about a particular clothing shop because it has such a glitzy, expensive flavor. Flavor initially meant "smell," from the Vulgar Latin flator, "odor."
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:
Sometimes I want the lemon flavor to be the whole point: a lemony avgolemono, for instance, or a chicken stew that tastes unabashedly citrusy.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
Sales across the company’s flavor solutions segment were up 8%, or 3% on an organic basis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
These products may contain ingredients including preservatives, artificial coloring, flavor enhancers, and emulsifiers.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
Foods “cross into ultra-processed territory when they contain preservatives, flavorings and other food additives, or substances ... to enhance flavor and increase shelf life.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
Clouds of smoke billowed up through gaps in the platform, adding flavor as well as preserving the meat.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Investors aren’t sold on plans to introduce new McNugget flavors, and an analyst recently noted that McDonald’s has struggled to break through on chicken-related innovation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Much of McDonald’s plans to capture more consumer spending focus on chicken — including new flavors of Chicken McNuggets, new chicken sandwiches, wings and wraps, and hand-breaded chicken.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
Public-health groups argue those flavors appeal to children and can induce people into trying tobacco products for the first time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Antioxidant preservatives instead slow oxidation, a chemical process that can cause foods to brown, develop unpleasant flavors, or become rancid.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
“Do you come up with new flavors a lot?”
From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks
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.
