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Synonyms

flavor

American

[fley-ver] / ˈfleɪ vər /

especially British, flavour

noun

taste, especially the distinctive taste of something as it is experienced in the mouth.
a substance or extract that provides a particular taste; flavoring.

Synonyms:

seasoning
the characteristic quality of a thing.

He captured the flavor of the experience in his book.

Synonyms:

spirit, essence
a particular quality noticeable in a thing.

language with a strong nautical flavor.
Physics. any of the six labels given to the distinct kinds of quark: up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top.
Archaic. smell, odor, or aroma.

verb (used with object)

to give flavor to (something).

flavor Scientific

/ flā′vər /

Any of six classifications of quark varieties, distinguished by mass and electric charge. The flavors have the names up, down, strange, charm, top, and bottom. Protons in atomic nuclei are composed of two up quarks and one down quark, while neutrons consist of one up quark and two down quarks. The flavor of a quark may be changed in interactions involving the weak force.

Synonym Usage

See taste.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

flavors

plural

Etymology

Origin of flavor

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French fla(o)ur, from unattested Late Latin flātor “stench, breath,” alteration of Latin flātus a “blowing, breathing,” ( see flatus), perhaps with -or of fētor fetor

Explanation

Flavor is the way something tastes. If an ice cream shop offers 50 flavors, each one of them will taste different. The flavor of your soup can be adjusted by adding salt — and when you add ingredients to change a food's taste, you can say you flavor it. From the flavor of food comes the sense of flavor meaning "atmosphere" or "feeling." You could say, for example, that you're not crazy about a particular clothing shop because it has such a glitzy, expensive flavor. Flavor initially meant "smell," from the Vulgar Latin flator, "odor."

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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:

flavor flavors

America’s homegrown narratives also have a distinctively national flavor, portraying the choices made by individuals as determining their fate.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026

Because lipids make up such a small share of the grain, they have received far less attention than starch, even though they can influence nutrition, flavor, and overall grain quality.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026

Jackets make me feel like I have a little shell and each one is a different flavor of shell depending on what the jacket is.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Served on corn tortillas with diced onions and cilantro, the pork is juicy but fried until crisp around the edges and packed with flavor.

From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026

I pick my new favorite flavor, peanut butter and chocolate.

From "Amina's Song" by Hena Khan

“It’s so important for investors and advisers to do their homework, because there are so many different flavors of these even in this very young space,” Evens said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

I’m not a vegan, but I love their vegan flavors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

At Lumpia City, look for crisp lumpia in playful flavors like ube butter banana French toast, which won a Sporkie in 2025, or pizza stuffed with gooey cheese, pepperoni and sausage.

From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026

And instead of new flavors, they wanted to come up with new formats.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

I had never tasted such a wonderful stew, full of flavors I couldn’t name.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

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