oven
Americannoun
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ovens
plural
noun
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an enclosed heated compartment or receptacle for baking or roasting food
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a similar device, usually lined with a refractory material, used for drying substances, firing ceramics, heat-treating, etc
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of oven
before 900; Middle English; Old English ofen; cognate with German Ofen, Old Norse ofn
Explanation
An oven is a device for baking food using heat. You probably scramble eggs on your stove but bake cupcakes in your oven. Most ovens are in kitchens, whether in private homes or restaurants. Every once in a while, you'll see an outdoor bread or pizza oven too — these are built of brick, stone, or clay, and can safely get hot enough to bake at very high temperatures. Another kind of oven is one that's used for baking ceramics, which is also called a kiln or sometimes a furnace. The very oldest ovens were built thousands of years ago in Central and Eastern Europe.
Vocabulary lists containing oven
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:
Heat the oven: Heat to 375°F. Use 1 tablespoon butter to grease a baking dish or oven-safe skillet.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
Start the sauce: In a large, wide skillet or Dutch oven, heat the butter, olive oil or combination of the two over low heat.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
Before a first-grade production of “Hansel and Gretel,” for example, parents are assured that Gretel would not be pushing the witch into an oven but instead will hold “a generative dialogue” about loneliness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The fan acts as a convection oven, an appliance that circulates hot air in order to cook food quickly and evenly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
“And if the power goes off, it’s going to be like an oven in there.”
From "I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005" by Lauren Tarshis
In Paris in particular this summer, the steep temperatures turned apartments directly under iconic Haussmann-era buildings with zinc-covered roofs into virtual ovens.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Working in food, my office is quite literally the kitchen: I write at a repurposed steel prep table, with my laptop on top and Dutch ovens stored below, that sits directly beside the stove.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
The sun’s heat compounds the heat from the ovens in the ground.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
Shreiber lent ovens, warmers and glass display cases featuring the SuperPretzel name to his customer free of charge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Volunteers were bustling with last-minute preparations, checking to be sure that each station had the same ingredients in the same amounts, wiping down the counters, preheating the ovens.
From "A Tangle of Knots" by Lisa Graff
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.
