mocha
Americannoun
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(initial capital letter) Also a seaport in the Republic of Yemen on the Red Sea.
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a choice variety of coffee, originally grown in Arabia.
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a flavoring obtained from a coffee infusion or a combined infusion of chocolate and coffee.
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a brownish chocolate color.
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a glove leather, finer and thinner than doeskin, the best grades of which are made from Arabian goatskins.
noun
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a strongly flavoured dark brown coffee originally imported from Arabia
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a flavouring made from coffee and chocolate
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a soft glove leather with a suede finish, made from goatskin or sheepskin
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a dark brown colour
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( as adjective )
mocha shoes
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noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mocha
1765–75 mocha for def. 2
Explanation
Mocha is a high quality type of coffee made from a specific coffee bean. It's easily confused with the flavored drink also called a mocha, which combines coffee and chocolate. Mocha coffee beans are from the plant species called Coffee arabica, and it was originally only grown in Mocha, Yemen. Most people who order mochas in coffee shops have a more complicated drink in mind: the hot or cold mixture of coffee or espresso, milk, and chocolate. Anything mocha flavored will echo this coffee-chocolate combination, while something mocha colored will be a similar brown shade.
Vocabulary lists containing mocha
English Food and Drink Words Derived from Arabic
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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:
You can have that as a latte, you can do it as a mocha or a blended coffee freeze.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026
Almost hidden in a mocha pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt, and wearing those same fire-red Air Jordans from his Aug. 4 return to Los Angeles, Clippers royalty Chris Paul adorned the Sparks’ bench.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2025
On the sweet front, there are offerings like the vanilla ice cream sundae, chocolate ice cream cup and cold brew mocha freeze — sweet treats that aren’t overly fancy.
From Salon ● May 3, 2025
When I was in college, I’d come home for Thanksgiving break and flip on Jodie Foster’s “Home for the Holidays” while sipping a peppermint mocha.
From New York Times ● Nov. 15, 2023
Lourdes continues waiting on her customer, an elderly woman sizing up a mocha petit four.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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Yoshi Nakashini, 79, sat at a table outside the Cypress Community Center with his two cats, Melon and Mocha, peering out from their carriers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2026
The iconic seasonal duo of the Peppermint Mocha Signature Latte and Toasted White Chocolate Signature Latte are also making their grand comeback.
From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2024
“We’re currently deciding between Mocha, Karma and Dino.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2024
Weeks before that, powerful Cyclone Mocha destroyed many of their homes.
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2023
On a trip we took, we saw the fine Mocha coffee growing, and some of the cities could not be seen on account of the banana plants which shade the coffee.
From St. Nicholas Vol. XIII, September, 1886, No. 11 An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks by Various
That is particularly true in Kyiv, the capital, where small coffee kiosks staffed by trained baristas serving tasty mochas for less than $2 have become a fixture of the streetscape.
From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2024
Talking over our iced mochas, I began to see a consistent pattern in our behavior — extended day-into-evening dates and continued plans to meet up again in the near future.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2023
I don't necessarily mean seasonal coffee drinks like pumpkin spice lattes and peppermint mochas — though I've definitely had more than one La Colombe peppermint mocha draft latte since Thanksgiving.
From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2022
Ovechkin doesn’t drink a lot of coffee now, but at the time, he was obsessed with mochas, Willsie recalled.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2022
Back in Chicago, I spent summer afternoons shopping for new school clothes or sipping iced mochas with Skye and Madi at my favorite café.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
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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.