ladle
Americannoun
-
a long-handled utensil with a cup-shaped bowl for dipping or conveying liquids.
-
Metallurgy. a bucketlike, refractory-lined container for transferring molten metal.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
a long-handled spoon having a deep bowl for serving or transferring liquids
a soup ladle
-
a large bucket-shaped container for transferring molten metal
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ladlesimple
-
ladlessimple
-
have ladledperfect
-
has ladledperfect
-
am ladlingprogressive
-
are ladlingprogressive
-
is ladlingprogressive
-
have been ladlingperfect progressive
-
has been ladlingperfect progressive
Past
-
ladledsimple
-
had ladledperfect
-
was ladlingprogressive
-
were ladlingprogressive
-
had been ladlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ladle
before 1000; Middle English ladel, Old English hlædel. See lade, -le
Explanation
A ladle is a large spoon with a deep bowl for scooping and serving soup and other liquids. If you make clam chowder, it might be messy to serve it without using a ladle. The serving implement is called a ladle, and you can also use this word as a verb: "Will you ladle some of that tomato soup into my bowl?" The Old English version was hlædel, from hladan, "to load," plus the "tool" suffix -le (like in thimble or handle).
Vocabulary lists containing ladle
Pestle, Sieve, and Whisk: Useful Words for Cooking Tools
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Orbiting Jupiter
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Other Words for Home
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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:
The beef noodle soup, which accounts for about 80% of orders, contains noodles, beef, one ladle of original stock and one ladle of fresh broth to dilute the stock’s intense flavor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
You cannot bail out the Titanic with a soup ladle.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026
At the annual championships in Groningen, amateur and professional chefs from the Netherlands and beyond compete for the top prize in both categories -- a coveted silver ladle.
From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026
Desperate, I grabbed a plastic ladle from the kitchen to change the mojo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2025
Mrs. Wigginbottom suddenly dropped her ladle into the stew pot with such a crash, it silenced the group.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
Kristofferson never sounded more like Leonard Cohen than he did here, rhapsodizing in a parched croon about a woman’s redeeming devotion as producer Fred Foster ladles on just the right amount of easy-listening schmaltz.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2024
Inside, workers dipped ladles into buckets filled with soup that they poured into Styrofoam containers stuffed with rice to distribute to Haitians who have lost homes to gang violence.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2024
To top it off, I drizzled a little raita yogurt, then green chutney using the tips of their ladles.
From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2024
Lava-like liquid oozes from the base of the furnace as soot-coated men in hooded reflective suits, thick gloves and protective visors steer the candescent flow with ladles the length of spears.
From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2023
They feed iron ore into the Blast Oven and pour molten steel into core molds from ladles.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Many remain convinced a tsunami could yet strike, he said, as government aid workers ladled rice porridge into bowls for the evacuees.
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
President ladled his usual flattery on Mr. Xi as a “great” and “powerful” leader, and said the two are now fast friends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
I like anything effervescent and not too sweet, ideally ladled from a punch bowl because punch bowls inherently make adults feel like children in the best possible way.
From Salon ● Nov. 25, 2025
Then they ladled the liquid into small cups.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2025
They were eating boar meat, ladled out from an enormous cauldron.
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
The women, ladling out stew and potatoes with frozen hands, scoffed at the idea that the police could stop the crossings.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2023
No gently ladling in broth over and over again.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 18, 2023
“They would say, ‘Ay, no, you live in Vietnam!’” recalls Ms. Inglés, ladling mango juice into a bag for a young boy at the juice stand she runs outside her home.
From New York Times ● Apr. 9, 2023
Once those finish baking and cooling, prepare the mousse and work fast, ladling the mousse into the pan, lining the outside with the ladyfingers, and then stacking the cake layers, alternating with the mousse.
From Salon ● Nov. 24, 2022
The men ladling the soup were prisoners too, and sometimes one of them would take pity on me, stir the bottom of the pot, and put a real piece of potato into my bowl.
From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson
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.
