pasta
Americannoun
-
pastas
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pasta
1870–75; < Italian < Late Latin. See paste
Explanation
Pasta is any Italian style of noodle, including spaghetti, ziti, and macaroni. Your favorite type of pasta might be fettuccine, especially when it's served in a creamy Alfredo sauce. Pasta refers to the noodle, or to the dish that contains it, like vegetable lasagna or spaghetti carbonara. Most pasta is made from semolina flour and water, and often eggs. The stiff dough is rolled very thin and then cut into shapes or long ribbons. It can be cooked from this soft, fresh state, or (more commonly) dried, packaged, and sold. Pasta is an Italian word (surprise, surprise), from Late Latin, which means "dough or paste."
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:
For my caviar pasta: I like a very clean white sauce, with not a lot of flour.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
Once, a family-sized frozen lasagna was replaced with an enormous bag of frozen pasta and meatballs.
From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026
She added that the portions given by the community kitchen - usually pasta or lentils with occasional potatoes and aubergines - were already too small to feed her family.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
Fuel prices led farmers and truck drivers to block roads earlier this week in the Puglia, Calabria and Sicily regions, slowing fuel transport and threatening pasta production.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
When it comes to food, there are only a few types that he will eat happily: plain rice, plain pasta, plain paratha, plain pizza, chicken nuggets, Cap’n Crunch, and cookies.
From "Zara’s Rules for Record-Breaking Fun" by Hena Khan
When Tiedemann posted clips on social media of her whipping up seafood pastas and searing rib-eyes, she became an overnight sensation, as much for her bawdy, uninhibited personality as her culinary prowess.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
She’s tried to replicate the experience in Sarasota, by importing Italian pastas and flours and procuring French butter from specialty stores.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
If vegetables feel like an obligation, tuck them into dense spoon salads, lemony beans and produce-packed pastas that eat like a treat rather than a directive.
From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2026
I love their oysters, but they also have a great burger, pastas and salads.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2025
He pours wine into all of our glasses, and we order soups and salads and four different pastas, and no dish is spectacular but everything is good enough.
From "We Are Okay" by Nina LaCour
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