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processed cheese

American

Or process cheese

noun

a mass-produced product made of one or more types of cheeses that have been heated and mixed with emulsifiers, colorings, flavorings, etc., primarily to retard spoilage and enhance spreadability at reduced cost.

Etymology

Origin of processed cheese

First recorded in 1915–20

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.

It is the journalistic equivalent of processed cheese without the appeal of Velveeta — somewhere between cardboard and cat vomit.

From Salon • Aug. 15, 2025

He leaves, weighed down with rejection and processed cheese.

From New York Times • Dec. 26, 2022

In her efforts to make homemade pimiento cheese more like the store-bought stuff, Mom reluctantly tried processed cheese.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 11, 2022

A worker moves a trolley loaded with packed processed cheese during a media tour to Amul satellite dairy in Khatraj village, located in the western Indian state of Gujarat June 29, 2011.

From Reuters • Apr. 11, 2022

Around dinnertime he opened his refrigerator and discovered there was nothing to eat but three individually wrapped slices of Kraft processed cheese.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023