repast
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
-
repasts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
repasted,
past participle, past
-
repasting
present participle
noun
-
a meal or the food provided at a meal
a light repast
-
archaic
-
food in general; nourishment
-
the act of taking food or refreshment
-
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
repastsimple
-
repastssimple
-
have repastedperfect
-
has repastedperfect
-
am repastingprogressive
-
are repastingprogressive
-
is repastingprogressive
-
have been repastingperfect progressive
-
has been repastingperfect progressive
Past
-
repastedsimple
-
had repastedperfect
-
was repastingprogressive
-
were repastingprogressive
-
had been repastingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of repast
1300–50; Middle English (noun) < Old French, derivative (compare past < Latin pāstus fodder) of repaistre to eat a meal < Late Latin repāscere to feed regularly, equivalent to Latin re- re- + pāscere to feed ( cf. pasture)
Explanation
Whether it's a sumptuous feast you're sitting down to or just a simple bite to eat, repast is just another word for "meal." Based on the Latin word repascere, which means "to feed," a repast is any collection of food served and eaten at one time. In verb form, repast means to eat or feast. So at least by dictionary standards, you should feel free to repast on cheese doodles and marshmallow fluff for your morning repast — in other words, eat junk for breakfast.
Vocabulary lists containing repast
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Eat Your Words
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
The work accelerated during Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims traditionally conduct a dawn-to-dusk fast broken by what in normal times would be a sumptuous repast.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2024
Not long afterward, another male red fox entered the scene of the crime; the purloined repast had been his.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 4, 2023
Brunch was known as "the latest 'fad'" and "a repast at 11 o'clock a.m."
From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2023
Maybe too decadent for an office worker’s midday repast, but I’ll happily risk an afternoon knockout punch for this sandwich.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 29, 2022
Summoning Mary, I soon had the room in more cheerful order: I prepared him, likewise, a comfortable repast.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
After this first meal, I like to maul the rest of the meat off the bones to fashion into all manner of repasts throughout the week.
From New York Times ● Dec. 30, 2021
As a journalist, he brought not only a good appetite to his work but also a lyrical and dynamic approach to his accounts of notable repasts.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 27, 2019
All these repasts make me think about my mother, Winkie.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 10, 2018
Yes, at first, well-heeled travelers took off in these new flying machines, white-gloved hands on their matching luggage, and prepared to enjoy civilized repasts seated at tables.
From Salon ● Dec. 28, 2010
"However, I shall be in camp by breakfast time;" and his mouth watered over imaginary repasts of tinned meats and tea and other delights.
From Gunpowder Treason and Plot And Other Stories for Boys by Harold Avery
It can then be copied and repasted somewhere else in an instant.
From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2019
So far as he could possibly detect, not one had been altered or repasted on the end.
From A Husband by Proxy by Jack Steele
When these things are ready, the pasted cover should be examined and repasted if it has dried in any place.
From Bookbinding, and the Care of Books A handbook for Amateurs, Bookbinders & Librarians by Noel Rooke
Shakespeare's language remains undisturbed in this version, but Papp's imaginative scissoring and repasting has sculptured a Hamlet of crystalline tensity.
From Time Magazine Archive
So after repasting themselves, they made them ready for the journey with takeing repose that night.
From Voyages of Peter Esprit Radisson by Pierre Esprit Radisson
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.
