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

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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

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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

Two rhino calves have celebrated their first birthday with cakes made of pellets, carrots and salad leaves.

From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026

After we’d ordered salt-and-pepper shrimp and branzino with sauce vierge and fennel herb salad, I chatted with veteran manager Jared Deery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026

A Crunchwrap Supreme and a bag of supermarket salad generally appeal to rather different notions of a good lunch.

From Salon ● Oct. 19, 2026

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

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

We also had sweet potato fries—frozen, but deliciously salty-sweet—and a salad kit.

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

Their contrasting flavors and textures make them useful ingredients in salads, smoothies, and grain bowls.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026

Chop herbs, grate cheese, cut citrus wedges and assemble any salads, keeping the greens and dressing separate.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026

Meanwhile, at the high end: Sweetgreen is clarifying pricing when customers create their own bowls or salads to avoid surprising people with big totals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

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

She wished, too, that she was not so interested in this new restaurant, did not perk up, imagining fresh green salads and steamed still-firm vegetables.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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Related Words

• potato salad

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