salad

American  

[sal-uhd] / ˈsæl əd /

noun

• salads
  plural

1. a usually cold dish consisting of vegetables, as lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers, covered with a dressing and sometimes containing seafood, meat, or eggs.

2. any of various dishes consisting of foods, as meat, seafood, eggs, pasta, or fruit, prepared singly or combined, usually cut up, mixed with a dressing, and served cold.

   chicken salad; potato salad.

3. any herb or green vegetable, as lettuce, used for salads or eaten raw.

4. South Midland and Southern U.S. greens.

5. any mixture or assortment.

   The usual salad of writers, artists, and musicians attended the party.

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salad British  

/ ˈsæləd /

noun

1. a dish of raw vegetables, such as lettuce, tomatoes, etc, served as a separate course with cold meat, eggs, etc, or as part of a main course

2. any dish of cold vegetables or fruit

   potato salad

   fruit salad

3. any green vegetable used in such a dish, esp lettuce

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• salads
  plural

Etymology

Origin of salad

1350–1400; Middle English salad ( e ) < Middle French salade < Old Provençal salada < Vulgar Latin *salāta, feminine past participle of *salāre to salt, equivalent to sal-, stem of sāl salt ¹ + -āta -ate ¹

Explanation

A salad is a dish that's usually cold and often includes lettuce or other greens. However, some salads don't have any greens but instead have lots of mayo — like tuna salad or chicken salad. While your idea of a salad might be iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, croutons, and a creamy dressing, salads come in many different forms. You can make a pasta salad or a tuna salad or an egg salad. Other salads are based on big pieces of bread, or meat, or cheese — and still others are dessert salads made with gelatin or whipped cream and fruit. Salad comes from the Latin phrase herba salata, or "salted vegetables."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

salad salads

They grow salad onions, broccoli and other vegetables on fields nearby, all irrigated by the lake water.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

Olive Garden started offering unlimited breadsticks, soup or salad soon after it opened in 1982.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

Soybean oil appears in salad dressings, mayonnaise, baked goods, infant formula, snacks and fried foods; soy lecithin emulsifies chocolate and bread; and soy protein fortifies energy bars, breakfast cereals and canned soup.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

Under shaded tents, plates overflow with fried fish and macaroni salad as elders hold court, trading stories about “the old record shop on Avalon” and the Los Angeles they remember “before the riots.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

When I got to Henry’s, I was glad to see that Charles and Francis were still picking at a cold chicken and some salad.

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

Backed by Oprah Winfrey, True Food Kitchen says it serves nutrient-dense meals including pasta, salads and chicken dishes with thoughtfully sourced ingredients.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

Over the summer, the restaurant industry also contended with a cyclospora outbreak that made more consumers squeamish about ordering things like salads.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

He said people have been eating salads from UK products "all summer" but added: "The issue though is serious, the aphids bloom in June and again in August/September."

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

They laid a buffet with French wine and cheeses, roast chicken, and Aggrey’s salads, one with watermelon, one with peach.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Wind nymphs zipped around the room, delivering orders of pizza, burgers, steaks, salads, Chinese food, and burritos, all flying at terminal velocity.

From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan

Related Words

• potato salad