pickle

¹ American  

[pik-uhl] / ˈpɪk əl /

noun

1. a cucumber that has been preserved in brine, vinegar, or the like.

2. Often pickles any other vegetable, as cauliflower, celery, etc., preserved in vinegar and eaten as a relish.

3. something preserved in a brine or marinade.

4. a liquid usually prepared with salt or vinegar for preserving or flavoring fish, meat, vegetables, etc.; brine or marinade.

5. Metallurgy. an acid or other chemical solution in which metal objects are dipped to remove oxide scale or other adhering substances.

6. Informal. a troublesome or awkward situation; predicament.

   I was in a pickle after the check bounced.

   Synonyms:

   jam, scrape, bind, fix, quandary, plight

7. Informal. a sour, disagreeable person.

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verb (used with object)

• pickles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• pickled,
  past participle,  past
• pickling
  present participle

1. to preserve or steep in brine or other liquid.

2. to treat with a chemical solution, as for the purpose of cleaning.

3. to give a pale, streaked finish to (wood) by applying and partly removing paint or by bleaching, as to give an appearance of age.

4. Slang. to store; prepare for long-range storage.

   Let's pickle these old cars for a few years.

pickle ² American  

[pik-uhl] / ˈpɪk əl /

noun

Scot. and North England.

1. a single grain or kernel, as of barley or corn.

2. a small amount; a little.

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pickle British  

/ ˈpɪkəl /

noun

1. (often plural) vegetables, such as cauliflowers, onions, etc, preserved in vinegar, brine, etc

2. any food preserved in this way

3. a liquid or marinade, such as spiced vinegar, for preserving vegetables, meat, fish, etc

4. a cucumber that has been preserved and flavoured in a pickling solution, such as brine or vinegar

5. informal an awkward or difficult situation

   to be in a pickle

6. informal a mischievous child

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verb

1. to preserve in a pickling liquid

2. to immerse (a metallic object) in a liquid, such as an acid, to remove surface scale

pickle Idioms  

1. see in a fix (pickle).

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pickler
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• pickling
  present
• pickled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• pickle
  simple
• pickles
  simple
• have pickled
  perfect
• has pickled
  perfect
• am pickling
  progressive
• are pickling
  progressive
• is pickling
  progressive
• have been pickling
  perfect progressive
• has been pickling
  perfect progressive

Past

• pickled
  simple
• had pickled
  perfect
• was pickling
  progressive
• were pickling
  progressive
• had been pickling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will pickle
  simple
• will have pickled
  perfect
• will be pickling
  progressive
• will have been pickling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of pickle¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English pikel, pikkel “spicy sauce or gravy,” from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pekel(e), peeckel “brine, pickle”

Origin of pickle²

First recorded in 1545–55; of uncertain origin; perhaps noun use of pickle “to take tiny bits of food in eating,” frequentative of pick ¹; see -le

Explanation

A pickle is a food that's made by soaking vegetables in brine or vinegar. If you are wondering what that crunchy green wedge beside your sandwich is, it just may be a pickle. While the most familiar pickles in the US are the thin disks or small, crunchy pickled cucumbers you can buy in jars, there are many other kinds of pickles. You can pickle just about any vegetable, from beets to okra to cucumbers — or even hard boiled eggs. In South Asian cuisines, pickle is a delicious spicy relish served aside many dishes. And if you find yourself in a really messy situation, you can say, "Wow, what a pickle."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pickle pickles pickled pickling

For every trending supplement, there is an unprocessed, wholefood alternative – from the anti-inflammatory benefits of turmeric, staving off cramp with pickle juice or consumption of high-nitrate foods like beetroot before competition.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

He has taken full advantage of that dispensation, leaving the Supreme Court in a pickle as the grace period is set to expire this week.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

I like this recipe in particular because if the farmers market has otherwise failed you, there is a decent chance the pickle table has not.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

I asked her about the most surprising pickle products she came across in her reporting, and if she gave any of them a try:

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

Below the writing there were painted bottles of mixed-fruit jam and hot-lime pickle in edible oil, with labels that said, in elaborate writing, Paradise Pickles & Preserves.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

The official Telegram account on X posted a photo Wednesday morning of Durov giving the middle finger over a heaping plate of pickles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

For example, "I love pickles. I know that if I eat too many pickles I'm gonna feel ill."

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

If you didn’t know what FTD meant on the menu at the Hodad’s stands at Petco Park, the burger — with cheese, onion rings, pickles, mayonnaise and barbecue sauce — still was a good time.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

The pickle juice lingering in a jar long after the pickles are gone.

From Salon ● Jun. 9, 2026

His job was to take the shells off four dozen hard-boiled eggs, cut hard cheese into inch cubes and stick a toothpick in each cube, and slice big pickles lengthwise.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

Giardiniera is my first choice here — jars of it seem to appear at every Chicago market — but think of the filling as a template for whatever good, spicy pickled thing you bring home.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

Change the herbs accordingly: chives and parsley are excellent with giardiniera, while Mexican-style pickled carrots practically beg for cilantro and oregano.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

"We have ham, pickled garlic, tahini, and stinky tofu and liquor. Just below my office is a shop whose speciality is vodka, foie gras and apple in one scoop," says Yan.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Chamoy similarly comes from Asia through pickled plums, particularly China via the Philippines.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

My mother made fancy triangle-shaped onigiri, with seaweed and pickled plums, but I just made the basic kind.

From "Kira-Kira" by Cynthia Kadohata

Tools are scattered throughout the studio, including a plumber’s torch for melting glass, crockpots for pickling and a dental tool she uses to stamp her logo, VM, short for Verre Modern, onto her ceramics.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026

While drying or pickling might preserve its taste, photography best preserves its beauty.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025

If it’s a vegetable, I’m using it from seed to stem — pickling or fermenting some parts, stewing other parts and saving its cooking liquid for another use.

From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2025

"My life changed just from pickling a cucumber," Maddi Neye-Swift told the BBC as she picked up her award for food creator of the year.

From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2024

Her job was to fill two bowls with fresh yogurt from the sacks hanging in the basement larder, where the floor was packed dirt, and where the old cook kept his pickling jars.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri