flavor

[fley-ver]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR flavor ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

taste, especially the distinctive taste of something as it is experienced in the mouth.

a substance or extract that provides a particular taste; flavoring.

the characteristic quality of a thing: He captured the flavor of the experience in his book.

a particular quality noticeable in a thing: language with a strong nautical flavor.

Physics. any of the six labels given to the distinct kinds of quark: up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top.

Archaic. smell, odor, or aroma.

verb (used with object)

to give flavor to (something).

Also especially British, fla·vour.

Origin of flavor

1300–50; Middle English < Middle French fla(o)ur < Late Latin *flātor stench, breath, alteration of Latin flātus a blowing, breathing, (see flatus), perhaps with -or of fētor fetor

Related formsfla·vor·less, adjectivede·fla·vor, verb (used with object)o·ver·fla·vor, verbpre·fla·vor, noun, verb (used with object)un·fla·vored, adjectivewell-fla·vored, adjective

Synonyms for flavor

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR flavor ON THESAURUS.COM

1. See taste. 2. seasoning. 3. essence, spirit.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for flavor

zest, acidity, seasoning, aroma, essence, extract, style, tone, feel, character, touch, feeling, quality, infuse, lace, spice, tang, zing, gusto, savor

Examples from the Web for flavor

Contemporary Examples of flavor

Tosi has been using cereal milk as a flavor ever since 2007, and she says it taps into a universal “memory sensor.”
Cereal Cafe’s Big Bowl of Hate
David Levesley
December 14, 2014
While the flavor is nowhere near as popular as the original, 10 percent of the one million cases of Zima sold each year are pink.
In Japan, Zima Haz No Zexual Preference
Jake Adelstein, Angela Erika Kubo
September 13, 2014
Yeah, you get a flavor of his brutality, you get a flavor of his family life, you get a flavor of him helping the people.
Gangster in Paradise: Benicio Del Toro Is Pablo Escobar
Alex Suskind
September 12, 2014
Whether the faith-based wave will be a long-term trend, or just another Hollywood flavor of the month remains to be seen.
Bible Flicks Move Beyond the B-List
Lewis Beale
August 3, 2014
Basically any quality of weed will do, since the extraction of THC is the point and not the flavor or loftiness of effect.
This Is Your E-Cigarette on Drugs
Daniel Genis
July 28, 2014

Historical Examples of flavor

While pulling, flavor with vanilla and a few drops of lemon.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 5
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
As the roasting also develops the flavor, it must be done carefully.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 5
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Also there was a flavor of farm-yard in my nostrils and the shouting of a multitude in my ears.
American Notes
Rudyard Kipling
This cousin had a broken hip, she needed company, and the flavor of old times.
Tiverton Tales
Alice Brown
Kirkwood's smile robbed the retort of any flavor of incivility.
The Black Bag
Louis Joseph Vance

Word Origin and History for flavor

c.1300, "a smell, odor" (usually a pleasing one), from Old French flaour "smell, odor," from Vulgar Latin flator "odor," literally "that which blows," from Latin flator "blower," from flare "to blow, puff," which is cognate with Old English blawan (see blow (v.1)).

The same Vulgar Latin source produced Old Italian fiatore "a bad odor." Sense of "taste, savor" is 1690s, perhaps 1670s; originally "the element in taste which depends on the sense of smell." The -v- is perhaps from influence of savor.

1730s, from flavor (n.). Related: Flavored; flavoring.

flavor in Science

flavor

[flā′vər]

Any of six classifications of quark varieties, distinguished by mass and electric charge. The flavors have the names up, down, strange, charm, top, and bottom. Protons in atomic nuclei are composed of two up quarks and one down quark, while neutrons consist of one up quark and two down quarks. The flavor of a quark may be changed in interactions involving the weak force.