macaroni

American  

[mak-uh-roh-nee] / ˌmæk əˈroʊ ni /

Or maccaroni

noun

• macaronis,
  plural
• macaronies
  plural

1. small, tubular pasta prepared from wheat flour.

2. an English dandy of the 18th century who affected Continental mannerisms, clothes, etc.

---

macaroni British  

/ ˌmækəˈrəʊnɪ /

noun

1. pasta tubes made from wheat flour

2. (in 18th-century Britain) a dandy who affected foreign manners and style

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• macaronies
  plural
• macaronis
  plural

Etymology

Origin of macaroni

1590–1600; earlier maccaroni < dialectal Italian, plural of maccarone ( Italian maccherone ). See macaroon

Explanation

Macaroni is a short, skinny, tube-shaped pasta. Many kids — and adults — would name "macaroni and cheese" as one of their favorite foods. At some Italian restaurants, you can order macaroni as a side dish, and it's easy to cook at home with tomato sauce or butter and cheese. Macaroni and cheese can be cooked on the stove or baked in the oven with a crunchy breadcrumb topping. Macaroni began to have the second meaning of "fop" or "dandy" around 1780, named for the well-traveled youths who ate what was considered fancy and exotic at the time — macaroni.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

macaroni macaronies macaronis

I wanted something that still felt unmistakably like the macaroni salad you’d pile onto a paper plate at a backyard cookout, just with a little more lift.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026

“It’s not the same to eat a plate of macaroni at 8 a.m. as it is at 3 p.m.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026

The youngest students are the most sceptical, she says, until kelp is folded into something familiar like macaroni and cheese.

From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026

We went with a ribeye, paired with macaroni and cheese, Brussels sprouts, and another standout: creamy mashed potatoes.

From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2026

Elbow macaroni with heaps of butter and salt.

From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers

The beaux distinguished themselves by their adroitness in replenishing this pot from a huge copper tea-kettle, which would have made the pigmy macaronies of these degenerate days sweat merely to look at it.

From Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete by Washington Irving

Do not look at either biscuits or macaronies; you have fruits of all kinds, confitures and much else that you may safely indulge in, according to my principles.

From The Physiology of Taste by Fayette Robinson

I would not give one for all the macaronies in England, with their powder and their snuff-boxes.

From Love and Life An Old Story in Eighteenth Century Costume by Charlotte Mary Yonge

At times, all should take as much soup, potage, fish, etc., and also meat cooked with rice and macaronies, pastry, creams, etc.

From The Physiology of Taste by Fayette Robinson

The beaux distinguished themselves by their adroitness in replenishing this pot from a huge copper tea-kettle which would have made the pigmy macaronies of these degenerate days sweat merely to look at it.

From Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 8 by Charles Herbert Sylvester

Scientists are watching closely now to see how bird flu interacts with the different penguin species, which on South Georgia include kings, gentoos, macaronis and chinstraps.

From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2024

Chile is home to four kinds, but the macaronis live offshore, outside the tourist cone.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 1, 2016

The rockies and macaronis revisit the same colony and breeding site every year.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 1, 2016

Sixty-nine penguins — gentoos, macaronis and rockhoppers — have marched over to their new home, which opens to the public on Monday.

From US News ● Apr. 13, 2016

Claypool in his red waistcoat, would sit dumb before the splendid Harry in his ruffles and laces, talking of March and Chesterfield, Selwyn and Bolingbroke, and the whole company of macaronis.

From The Virginians by William Makepeace Thackeray

Related Words

• penne
• spaghetti
• tortellini