macaroni
Americannoun
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small, tubular pasta prepared from wheat flour.
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an English dandy of the 18th century who affected Continental mannerisms, clothes, etc.
noun
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pasta tubes made from wheat flour
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(in 18th-century Britain) a dandy who affected foreign manners and style
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.
Vocabulary lists containing macaroni
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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.
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
Ms. Moyer-Nocchi’s finest work comes in two chapters probing the special relationship Americans have with macaroni and cheese.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026
We went with a ribeye, paired with macaroni and cheese, Brussels sprouts, and another standout: creamy mashed potatoes.
From Salon • Feb. 2, 2026
His 18th-century forerunners, the London macaroni and the Paris incroyable, had one foot in the court and the other in the city street, but the dandy, posh or not, lived in a middle-class, democratic society.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 15, 2026
Mrs. V had called Catherine and explained the situation, told her to stuff information into my head along with the macaroni at lunch.
From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper
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.
