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Synonyms

gumbo

1 American  
[guhm-boh] / ˈgʌm boʊ /

noun

plural

gumbos

  1. a stew or thick soup, usually made with chicken or seafood, greens, and okra or sometimes filé as a thickener.

  2. okra.

  3. soil that becomes sticky and nonporous when wet.

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or like gumbo.

Gumbo 2 American  
[guhm-boh] / ˈgʌm boʊ /

noun

(sometimes lowercase)

  1. a French patois spoken by Black and Creole people in Louisiana and the French West Indies.

gumbo 1 British  
/ ˈɡʌmbəʊ /

noun

  1. the mucilaginous pods of okra

  2. another name for okra

  3. a soup or stew thickened with okra pods

  4. a fine soil in the W prairies that becomes muddy when wet

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Gumbo 2 British  
/ ˈɡʌmbəʊ /

noun

  1. (sometimes not capital) a French patois spoken by Creoles in Louisiana and the Caribbean

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of gumbo1

1795–1805, < Louisiana French gombo, gumbo < a Bantu language; compare Umbundu ochinggombo, Luba chinggombo okra

Origin of Gumbo2

First recorded in 1835–40; probably from the same source as gumbo ( def. )

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.

His gumbo recipe, for example, calls for two pouches each of smoked clams, oysters and mackerel along with white rice, oregano, cumin and chile peppers.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 2, 2025

A light touch of herbs, some seasonings and a bright pop of fresh lemon juice, and you have a most brilliant concoction, a concoction that is now as much of a Creole classic as gumbo.

From Salon • Nov. 7, 2024

We should consider ourselves lucky that the appropriated accents aren't dripping with Northern gumbo, i.e. the kind that punishes us instead of lending flavor.

From Salon • Mar. 31, 2024

Luckily the street is an artists’ enclave, with some opening their homes for Hantman’s dinner receptions — one in January served gumbo family-style two doors down at a local artist’s Midcentury Modern house.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 29, 2024

Plug and I battled through the gumbo mud to the fence line.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

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.