fresh
Americanadjective
-
newly made or obtained.
fresh footprints.
- Antonyms:
- old
-
recently arrived; just come.
fresh from school.
-
new; not previously known, met with, etc.; novel.
to uncover fresh facts;
to seek fresh experiences.
-
additional or further.
fresh supplies.
-
not salty, as water.
-
retaining the original properties unimpaired; not stale or spoiled.
Is the milk still fresh?
-
not preserved by freezing, canning, pickling, salting, drying, etc..
fresh vegetables.
-
not tired or fatigued; brisk; vigorous.
She was still fresh after that long walk.
-
not faded, worn, obliterated, etc.: a fresh appearance.
fresh paint;
a fresh appearance.
-
looking youthful and healthy.
a fresh beauty that we all admired.
-
pure, cool, or refreshing, as air.
- Synonyms:
- unadulterated, sweet, invigorating
-
denoting a young wine, especially a white or rosé, that is clean, crisp, and uncomplicated.
-
Meteorology. (of wind) moderately strong or brisk.
-
Two hundred fresh recruits arrived at the training camp.
- Antonyms:
- skilled, experienced
-
Informal. forward or presumptuous.
-
(of a cow) having recently given birth to a calf.
-
Slang.
noun
-
the fresh part or time.
-
a freshet.
verb (used with or without object)
adverb
adjective
-
not stale or deteriorated; newly made, harvested, etc
fresh bread
fresh strawberries
-
newly acquired, created, found, etc
fresh publications
-
novel; original
a fresh outlook
-
latest; most recent
fresh developments
-
further; additional; more
fresh supplies
-
not canned, frozen, or otherwise preserved
fresh fruit
-
(of water) not salt
-
bright or clear
a fresh morning
-
chilly or invigorating
a fresh breeze
-
not tired; alert; refreshed
-
not worn or faded
fresh colours
-
having a healthy or ruddy appearance
-
newly or just arrived; straight
fresh from the presses
-
youthful or inexperienced
-
designating a female farm animal, esp a cow, that has recently given birth
-
informal presumptuous or disrespectful; forward
-
dialect partially intoxicated; tipsy
noun
-
the fresh part or time of something
-
another name for freshet
verb
adverb
-
in a fresh manner; freshly
-
informal having just run out of supplies of
Usage
What is a basic definition of fresh? Fresh is an adjective that describes something as new or recently made, as being not spoiled or not preserved, or as being energized or not tired. Fresh has many other senses as an adjective and a few as a noun and a verb. If something is fresh, it has not existed for very long or is so new that it has never been used or seen before.
- Real-life examples: Kids like to play in fresh snow that is still soft and not frozen. A fresh pen has never been used before. When people want to try something different, they need fresh ideas.
- Used in a sentence: I grabbed a piece of paper that was fresh out of the pack.
- Used in a sentence: That gross, smelly fish clearly isn’t fresh.
- Used in a sentence: The tired players sat on the bench and fresh substitutes took their place.
Synonym Usage
See new.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of fresh
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English fersc; cognate with Old Frisian fersk, Old High German frisc ( German frisch ), Old Norse ferskr
Explanation
Fresh describes things that are new or energetic, like fresh bread from the oven and fresh music from a recording artist. Moldy bread and grandpa's polkas? Not so fresh. There are many uses for the adjective fresh, from being flirty to being well-rested. Ripe foods taste fresh compared to freezer-burned varieties, and fresh ideas are exciting and new. Fresh water is without the bitterness of salt water. Modern and different are also synonyms of fresh, while stale and tired are opposites.
Vocabulary lists containing fresh
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 1
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Non-Color Words to Use When Describing Color
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Almost anything can be made into a soup — even fresh, chopped lettuce.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
Many fresh fruits and vegetables can carry cyclospora, and it is likely that there are multiple sources of the outbreak, Williams said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Founded by a Korean-American, it became synonymous with online shopping in South Korea after 2015, when it started offering fresh produce overnight.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
But after a familiar setup, the movie stubbornly refuses to go in compelling new directions or offer fresh observations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
“Time for my shift. Come to the side door—I’ll make a fresh batch.”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
One of the biggest losers has been Nike, which has been a dominant athletics retail brand in China since at least the 1990s, but is steadily losing ground to local rivals with fresher brand identities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
“Frozen vegetables compete against both shelf-stable and fresh alternatives, with the latter benefiting from consumer trends toward fresher food,” he added.
From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026
Westerly winds and a weak cold front will eventually sweep fresher air in from the Atlantic by Sunday and next week is set to feel very different for most.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
These fresher faces — Jasper Dolphin, Rachel Wolfson, Zach Holmes — prove brave and resilient when allowed to participate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
“Pip,” said he, “we won’t talk about ‘poor dreams;’ you know more about such things than I, having much fresher experience of that kind.
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
"Here I was feeling fine. Maybe not the freshest, like at the beginning of the tournament, but I was physically all right," Djokovic said.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
I decide to start paying more attention, so I know when food is at its freshest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026
“As a small business, we take pride in offering the freshest candy, exceptional service and a personal touch that big-box retailers and closeout competitors simply can’t match,” the company says on its site.
From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2025
"Since then, we have introduced a new date code checking process across all our stores, whereby every short-life product is checked daily so that customers can always buy the freshest products."
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2025
Ma likes it this way because everything we eat each day is at its freshest.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
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.
