marinara

[ mahr-uh-nahr-uh, mar-uh-nar-uh ]

noun

1. Italian Cooking. a highly seasoned sauce of tomatoes, garlic, and spices.

adjective

1. garnished or served with marinara:

   shrimps marinara.

Word History and Origins

Origin of marinara¹

1945–50; < Italian ( alla ) marinara literally, in sailor's style, feminine of marinaro seafaring (adj.), sailor (noun) (dial., for Tuscan marinaio ), equivalent to marin ( a ) sea, noun use of feminine of marino marine + -aro < Latin -ārius -ary

Example Sentences

“Try to figure it out,” he coaxed, nodding when she returned with the chunky marinara.

From ProPublica

I also skipped making my own dipping sauce the second time, using an opened jar of marinara, because making your own pizza babka is impressive enough.

From Eater

A lot of spaghetti with marinara-type sauces are made with the packaged meats.

From The Daily Beast

Rotisserie-style chicken, whole wheat roll OR whole-wheat spaghetti with Marinara and mozarella cheese.

From The Daily Beast

But the bar snack preparation often masks the delicate squid-iness with dominating flavors of grease and marinara sauce.

From The Daily Beast

As to morphology, we will confine ourselves to pointing out the masculine plurals of neuter form (li pastura, li marinara).

From Project Gutenberg