palate
[pal-it]
- Anatomy. the roof of the mouth, consisting of an anterior bony portion (hard palate) and a posterior muscular portion (soft palate) that separate the oral cavity from the nasal cavity.
- the sense of taste: a dinner to delight the palate.
- intellectual or aesthetic taste; mental appreciation.
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Origin of palate
1350–1400; Middle English palat < Latin palātum roof of the mouth
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
biaspenchantpartialitytendencyattractioninclinationpreferenceappetitedispositionzestgustoExamples from the Web for palate
Contemporary Examples
That means Japanese whiskies are beautifully balanced and elegant; they touch and develop on every sensor on the palate.
And your palate will change as you have new experiences and new selections in the wine world.
Oak, great balance and a good finish with stone fruits and just enough oak to round the wine to a silky smooth feel on the palate.
By 1987, however, the American palate was beginning to change.
When I first met Roy Choi, he said I had the palate of a nine-year-old.
Jon Favreau On the Food Porn-y ‘Chef,’ ‘The Jungle Book,’ and Why He Left the ‘Iron Man’ FranchiseMarlow Stern
March 9, 2014
Historical Examples
Here is a salad that would have intrigued the palate of Lucullus, himself.
Her Father's DaughterGene Stratton-Porter
Sugar is not so sweet to the palate as sound to the healthy ear.
Woefully had the massacre of the saints failed to please the palate of the populace.
MelomaniacsJames Huneker
The fruit of Croton is a feast both to the eye and to the palate.
Manual of American Grape-GrowingU. P. Hedrick
I have lost all palate for Bordeaux since I came to Mr. Cashel.
Roland CashelCharles James Lever
palate
- the roof of the mouth, separating the oral and nasal cavitiesSee hard palate, soft palate Related adjective: palatine
- the sense of tasteshe had no palate for the wine
- relish or enjoyment
- botany (in some two-lipped corollas) the projecting part of the lower lip that closes the opening of the corolla
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin palātum, perhaps of Etruscan origin
confusable
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for palate
n.
late 14c., "roof of the mouth," from Old French palat and directly from Latin palatum "roof of the mouth," perhaps of Etruscan origin [Klein]. Popularly considered the seat of taste, hence transferred meaning "sense of taste" (late 14c.), which also was in classical Latin. Related: Palatal; palatalize.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
palate
(păl′ĭt)- The bony and muscular partition between the oral and nasal cavities; the roof of the mouth.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
palate
[păl′ĭt]
- The roof of the mouth in vertebrate animals, separating the mouth from the passages of the nose.♦ The bony part of the palate is called the hard palate. ♦ A soft, flexible, rear portion of the palate, called the soft palate, is present in mammals only and serves to close off the mouth from the nose during swallowing.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
palate
[(pal-uht)]
The roof of the mouth. The palate separates the mouth from the nasal cavity.
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Note
It is sometimes said that a person has a “cultivated palate” if he or she has a discerning taste for food.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.